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THE ST^AM NAVY

. . OF THE . . .

UNITED STATES.

A HISTORY OF THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM VESSEL OF WAR

IN THE U. S. NAVY, AND OF THE NAVAL

ENGINEER CORPS

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

FRANK M. BENNETT,

PASSED ASSISTANT ENGINEER, UNITED STATES NAVY.

1696:
PRESS OP W. T. NICHOLSON,
PITTSBURGH, PA,

/V^M2~

COPYRIGHTED 1896, BY

FRANK M. BENNETT.

CONTENTS.

PAGB.
. 1

CHAPTER I.
Introductory _,.

CHAPTER II.

The Dkmologos, or Fulton, the First Steam War Vessel ever Built— Robert
Fulton— The Sea Gull— The Fulton, 2d— Mr, Chas. H. Haswell, the
First Engineer in the United States Navy— Captain M. C. Perry's Rec-
omendations Regarding Engineers' Force— Regulations Governing Ap-
pointment of Engineers— Performance of the Fulton Under Steam—
Her Subsequent Career— Captain Perry's Interest in Engineers 8

CHAPTER III.

The Engineer— The Mississippi and Missouri— Establishment of the Engineer
Corps by Act of Congress— Destruction of the Missouri— Career of the
Mississippi— Steamers Transferred to the Navy from the War Depart-
ment— The Michigan f% t 32

CHAPTER IV.

Experiments with the "Hunter Wheel" — The Union— The Water Witch—

The Alleghany — The Stevens Battery .; 48

CHAPTER V.

Introduction of the Screw Propeller— John Ericsson—The Princeton, and Her
Remarkable Engine— Great-Gun Accident on the Peinceton and Con-
sequent Breach of Friendship Between Ericsson and Captain Stockton
— Subsequent Career of the Princeton gx

CHAPTER VI.

Reorganization of the Engineer Corps— Case of Chief Engineer C. B. Moss-
All Assistant Engineers Examined and Rearranged According to Pro-
ficiency—Laws and Regulations Affecting the Engineer Corps from 1845
to 1850 — Resignation of Chief Engineer John Faron, Jr 75

CHAPTER VII.

The War With Mexico— Naval Operatians i.n California— Important Service of
Surgeon William Max well Wood— Blockade of !the Gulf Coast— Commo-
dore Perry and the Mississippi— Valuable Professional Service of Engi-
neer-in-Chief Haswell — Bombardment of Vera Cruz — "Alvarado Hun-
ter "—Steamers Bought for Temporary Service — Naval Engineers En-
gaged in the Mexican War — Results of the War 88

CHAPTER VIII.

New Steamers Authorized for the Navy in 1847 — The Susquehanna, Pow-
hatan, Saranac, and San Jacinto — Mr. Haswell Succeeded as Engineer-
in-Chief by Charles B. Stuart — Circumstances Connected with Mr. Has-
well's Leaving the Navy — His Great Services to the Naval Engineer
Corps — His Subsequent Career 102

CHAPTER IX.

The Expedition to Japan and Treaty with that Country— Services of Engineers
in the Expedition — Value of Steamers in Impressing the Japanese —
Other Naval Affairs in the Far East .*., ,,,...,.., 12G

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

PAGHC.

End of the Experimental Period and Beginning of the Creationary Period of
the American Steam Navy— The Franklin— The Mbeeimac Class of
Steam Frigates— The Niagara— Services of Chief Engineer Everett in
Connection with the Atlantic Cable Laid by the Niagara— The Hart-
ford Class of Large Screw Sloops— Mr. Archbold Succeeds Mr. Martin
as Engineer-in-Chief— The Mohican Class— The Pawnee— The Paraguay
Expedition— Small Steamers Purchased for the Navy — Project to Con-
vert Old Line-of-Battle-Ships into Steam Frigates 137

CHAPTER XI.
The Engineer Corps from 1850 to the Beginning of the Civil War— Congress
Petitioned to Increase the Corps — Pay Increased by United Effort of all
Officers— Bank of Engineers Denned— New Regulations Governing
Appointment and Promotion Issued — Opinions of Chief Engineer Gay
in Relation of Sails and Steam 177

CHAPTER XII.
The Civil War 193

CHAPTER XIII.
1861— The Civil War, Continued— Engineers and Steam Vessels in the Navy
at the Outbreak of Hostilities— Resignation and Dismissal of Officers —
Chief Engineer B. F. Isherwood Appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the
Navy — Increase of the Engineer Corps— Qualifications of the Volunteer
Engineers — Remarkable Career of Don Carlos Hasseltino — Vesseta Ad-
ded to the Fleet During the Year. — The Kearsearge and Canandaigua
Classes of Steam Sloops — The Ninety-Day Gunboats— The First Double-
Enders 201

CHAPTER XIV.
1861— The Civil War, Continued— The Norfolk Navy Yard— Attempt to Save
the Frigate Merrimac — Endeavors of Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood —
Destruction of the Yard — Attack on Hatteras Inlet — Destruction of the
Privateer Judah at Pensacola , 230

CHAPTER XV.
1861— The Civil War, Continued— Expedition of Flag Officer DuPont to Port
Royal — Loss of the Governor — Naval Battle at Port Royal — Killing of
Assistant Engineer Whittemore on the Mohican— Affair of the Trent... 245

CHAPTER XVI.

1861— The Civil War, Continued— The First American Iron Clads— The Ste-
vens Battery Condemned by a Board of Naval Officers— Authority to
Build Armored Vessels Conferred by Act of Congress— Report of Board
on Iron Clad Vessels— The Galena, New Ironsides, and Monitor—
Armored Vessels on the Mississippi River 262

CHAPTER XVII.

1862— The Civil War, Continued— Capture of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth
City— The Merrimac and Her Raid— Destruction of the Congress and
Cumberland— The Monitor Completed and Commisioned— Her Chief
Engineer, Isaac Newton— Voyage of the Monitor from New York and
Her Arrival in Hampton Roads 286

CHAPTER XVIII.

1862— The Civil War, Continued— First Fight of Iron Clads— Effects of the
Battle— Extraordinary Services Rendered by Chief Engineer Stimers—
Attack on Drury's Bluff— The Galena Badly Injured— Gallantry of
Assistant Engineer J. W.Thomson „.„ 30j

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX. PAGB.

1862 — The Civil War, Continued — Naval Operations in the Mississippi River
— Battles Below New Orleans— Catastrophe to the Mound City — Attack
on Vicksburg — Warfare on the Atlantic Coast — Wreck of the Adieon-
sack — Loss of the Monitor— Peril of the Passaic— Heroism of Assistant
Engineer H. W. Robie 318

CHAPTER XX.

1862 — The Civil War, Continued — Increase of the Navy— Steamers Purchased
Mississippi Flotilla Transferred to the Navy Department — Steam Ves-
sels of War Placed Under Construction — The Passaic Class of Monitors
— The Dictator and Puritan— The Miantonomoh Class— Other Moni-
tors— The Keokuk — The Dunderberg — Legislation Regarding the Navy
— Retired|List Established — Creation of the Bureau of Steam Engineer-
ing—Perisions 337

CHAPTER XXI.

1863 — The Civil War, Continued — Disasters at Galveston — Loss of the Colum-
bia— Raid of Rebel Rams off Charleston — Loss of the Isaac Smith — The
Florida, and Her Pursuit by the Sonoma — Investment of Washington,
North Carolina — Assembling of Ironclads off Charleston — Remarkable
Breakdown and Repairs to the Machinery of the Weehawken — Attack on
Fort McAllister — First Attack on Fort Sumter — Destruction of the
Keokuk — The Atta/nta-Weehawken Duel — Protracted Investment of the
Charleston Forts by the Monitors — Sinking of the Weehawhen 362

CHAPTER XXII.

1863— The Civil War, Continued — The War on the Western Waters — Passage
of Port Hudson — Destruction of the Frigate Missiisirpi — Minor Opera-
tions in the West — New Vessels Placed Under Construction — The
Light-Draft Monitors — Iron Double-Enders— Large Wooden Frigates
and Sloops-of-War— The First Swift Cruisers— The Kalamazoo Class
of Monitors — Assimilated Rank of Staff Officers Raised — New Regu-
lations Governing Promotion in the Engineer Corps Issued 384

CHAPTER XXIII.

1863 — The Civil War, Continued — Controversy as to the Efficiency of Iron-
Clads — Rear Admiral DuPont Reports Adversely to Them— Chief Engi-
neer Stimers Reports in Their Favor — Rear Admiral DuPont Prefers
Charges Against Chief Engineer Stimers — The Case Investigated by a
Court of Inquiry— Vindication of Mr. Stimers 403

CHAPTER XXIV.

1864— The Civil War, Continued — Confederate Successes in the Use of Torpedoes
— Blowing Up of the Sloop of War Housatonio— Minor Naval Operations
— Boiler Explosion on the Chenango — The Keabsargk- Alabama Fight —
The Great Battle in Mobile Bay— Loss of the Tecumseh — Capture of the
Privateer Florida by the Wachxtsett — The Gunboat Otsego Sunk by a
Torpedo— First Attack on Fort Fisher 423

CHAPTER XXV.

1864 — The Civil War, Continued — Naval Operations in the North Carolina
Sounds — The Ram Albemable— Sinking of the Southfield and defeat of
the Miami — The Naval Battle of May Fifth — Disaster to the Sassacus and
Heroism of Her Chief Engineer — Daring Attempt of Enlisted Men to De-
stroy the Ram — Her Destruction by Lieutenant Wni. B. Gushing — Battle
and Capture of Plymouth — Prize Money Distributed on Account of the
Albemarle ,.„„,„,„„.,„,, ,.,.. 447

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.

PAGE.

1864— The Civil War, Continued— New Ships and Machinery Begun— The
Serapis Class — The Resaca Class — Competitive Machinery of the QtriN-
nebauq and Swatara — The Stromboli, or Spuyten Duyvil — The Light-
Draft Monitors — Petition of the Engineer Corps Addressed to Congress
and its Results 474

CHAPTER XXVII.

1865— The Civil War, Concluded— Loss of the San Jacinto— Second Attack
on Fort Fisher— The Patapsco Destroyed by a Torpedo— Charleston
Abandoned by the Confederates — The Monitors Milwaukee and Osage
Sunk — Loss of the Sciota and Ada — Restoration of Peace — Some Naval
Lessons of the War— Armed Merchant Vessels Unsuited for Operations
of War — Casualities of the Engineer Corps During the Rebellion 495

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Competitive Trials of Steam Machinery — The Nipsic and Kansas — Failure of
the Saco — The Famous Algonquin-Winooski Controversy — Performance
of the Idaho — Her Success as a Sailing Ship — Trial Trip of the Chatta-
nooga—Trial of the Madawaska — Comparative Table of Results of
Trials of the Idaho, Chattanooga, Madawaska and Wampanoag —
Subsequent Career of the Madawaska, or Tennessee 514

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Trial Trip of the Wampanoag— Remarkable Speed Developed— Official
Reports of Commanding Officer and Board of Chief Engineers— At-
tempt of the Press to Discredit Her Performance — Her Success Verified
by the Trial of the Ammonoosuc — The Real Reasons for Building Swift
Cruisers During the Civil War — The Wampanoag Condemed by a
Board of Naval Officers — Her Subsequent Career. 353

CHAPTER XXX.

Some Naval Eyenis After the Civil War — The Voyage of the Monadnock to
California— The Miantonomoh Visits Europe — The Mohongo in a
Pampero— Loss of the Narcissus— Yellow Fever on the Kearsakgk
and Muscoota— Wreck, of the Sacramento — Earthquakes and Tidal
Waves— Wreck of the Suwanee— The Affair of the Forward— Loss of
the Oneida— Wreck of the Saginaw 584

CHAPTER XXXI.

Condition of the Engineer Corps after the War— Resignations— The Question of
Brevet Rank— First and Second Assistant Engineers Become Commissioned
Officers— Chief Engineer J. W. King Appointed Engineer-in-CMef— Sweep-
ing Reduction in Rank of Staff Officers— Use of Steam Discontinued on
Ships of War— The Pay Act of 1870— The Act of 1871 603

CHAPTER XXXII.

Shipbuilding Progress in the Navy, 1865-1880— The Alaska and Class-Cap-
tured Blockade-Runners— Sale of Monitors— Rebuilding of the Mian-
tonomoh Class— The Puritan— The New Swatara and Class— Com-
pound Engines-Chief Engineer Wood Appointed Engineer-in-Chief—
Costly Experiments with Two-Bladed Propellers— The Alert Class of
Iron Gunboats— The Enterprise Class— The Trenton— The Nipsic—
The Despatch— The Alarm and Intrepid ' 622

CHAPTER XXXIII.

The Training of Naval Engineers at the Naval Academy 652

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

PAGE.

Steam Vessels of the United States Navy in the Arctic Ocean — The Polaris
Expedition — Cruise of the'JuNiATA and Tigbess — The Jeannette Ex-
pedition— Retreat on the Ice — Heroism and Fortitude of Chief Engi-
neer Melville — Voyage and Loss of the Rodgehs — Naval and Congres-
sional Investigations Into the Loss of the Jeannette — The Greely
Belief Expedition — Tardy Promotion of Chief Engineer Melville for
Heroism Displayed in the Jeannette Expedition 679

XXXV.

Uniforms and Corps Devices of the Engineer Corps 713

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Connection of the Naval Engineer Corps with Technical Education in
the United States — Engineers Detailed to Colleges by Authority of
Congress — Success of the Experiment — Its Discontinuance 732

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Brief Mention of Events of Engineering Interest Since 1872— Peril of the Man-
hattan— Titles of Assistant Engineers Changed— Chief Engineer Wm.
H. Shock Appointed Engineer-in-Chief — Loss of the Huron — Cruise of
the Marion to Heard Island — Reduction of Engineer Corps in 1882 —
Case of the Discharged Cadet Engineers— Wreck of the Ashuelot —
Longevity Pay for Passed Assisant Engineers— Chief Engineer C. H.
Loring Succeeds Mr. Shock as Engineer-in-Chief — Naval Disaster at
Samoa — Naval Engineers at the Columbian Exposition and Midwinter
— Fair Loss of the Kearsarge — Casualty on the Monterey 744

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

The New Navy— Naval Advisory Boards — First Acts of Congress Providing for
the Rebuilding of the Navy — The Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and
Dolphin — The Newark, Yorktown, and Petrel — The Charleston —
The Texas, Maine, and Baltimore — The Dynamite-Gun Cruiser — The
Montebey — The Philadelphia and San Francisco — Chief Engineer
George W. Melville Appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy 771

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The New Navy, Continued— The New York and Olympia— The Detroit Class
— The Cincinnati and Raleigh — The Bancroft, Castine and Machias
— The Ainmen Rain — Coast-Line Battle-Ships — The Ericsson — The
Columbia — Her Remarkable Voyage Across the Atlantic Ocean — The
Minneapolis— The Bbookltn and Iowa — New Torpedo Boats and Gun-
boats— The New Kearsarge 809

CHAPTER XL.

Conclusion 845

APPENDIX A.

An Alphabetical List of the Names of All Members of the Regular Corps of the

Navy from the Introduction of Steam to the Present Day 853

APPENDIX B.

List of Steam Vessels of War of the United States, with Principal Data Regard-
ing them and a Brief Synopsis of Service ; Arranged in Chronological
Order 893

APPENDIX C.

" Uncle Samuel's Whistle and What it Costs ;" An Illustrated Satire of the Old
Navy „ , 919

PREFACE.

HAVING completed this work, the author desires to express his
thanks to many friends and acquaintances whose assistance,
given in the form of books, letters, manuscripts, etc. , has made the
collection of much of the contained information possible. Especial
thanks are due to Mr. Ohas. H. Haswell of New York, a veteran
engineer, and one of the few survivors of the earliest steam period
of our navy; his clear mind has supplied a fund of information
regarding the birth of our steam navy that could not have been
obtained elsewhere, and which has made possible the rescue from
oblivion of much of the subject-matter included in the first chapters.
Chief Engineer B. F. Isherwood, U. S. Navy, has also kindly sup-
plied much information and many references to documents from
which valuable knowledge has been derived.

Chief Engineers James W. King, William H. Shock, Charles
H. Loring, George W. Melville, David P. Jones, James Entwistle,
F. G. McKean, Harrie Webster, and James H. Perry; Passed
Assistant Engineers Eobert S. Griffin, F. C. Bieg, Walter M.
McFarland, H. P. Norton, F. C. Bowers, G. Kaemmerling, and
Chief Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn, have all afforded so much
aid in the way of papers, manuscripts, photographs, etc. , that it is a
pleasure to thank them by name. Mr. T. C. Brecht, formerly of
the naval engineer corps, and Mr. A. O. Blaisdell of New York,
have contributed valuable drawings of machinery of older ships,
which might not have been found elsewhere, which are greatly
appreciated. Mr. E. H. Hart, the well-known photographer of
Brooklyn, has placed the author under many obligations by allowing
the use of photographs upon which he holds copyrights. Besides
those already named, nearly three hundred others — officers and
ex-officers of the navy, ship and engine builders, and civilians inter-
ested in naval progress — have by letter or verbally given much
assistance; all whom are now formally thanked.

In all matters of historical importance the aim has been to
adhere strictly to official accounts written at the time by persons
most directly concerned. With this idea in view, the annual reports
of the Secretary of the Navy for more than fifty years, covering the

CONTENTS.

period since steam was introduced into the navy, have been carefully
studied, as have also the reports of commanding officers of fleets,
squadrons, and ships, especially those relating to the operations of
the Civil War. The records of the naval Bureaus of Steam Engi-
neering and Construction and Kepair have been found mines of useful
knowledge. Many reports made by committees of Congress on
naval matters have also been used and much information gained
from them, they being official and impartial to the same extent as
departmental reports, and therefore equally suitable. From these
official sources and from individuals of undoubted reliability the
material for this book has been obtained.

In addition to official documents, many books have been used
for reference. Some of these are mentioned in the text; among
others, those found most useful have been, " The Atlantic and Gulf
Coast, " by Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen; C. B. Boynton, "History
of the Navy During the Cival War;" Charles B. Stuart, "Naval
and Merchant Steamers of the United States;" J. E. Soley, "The
Blockade and the Cruisers;" Geo. F. Emmons, "Navy of the
United States, 1775-1853;" Bear Admiral Preble, "History of
Steam Navigation;" Dr. R. H. Thurston, "Growth of the Steam
Engine;" Captain A. T. Mahan, "Gulf and Inland Waters;"
T. H. S. Hamersly, " General Register of the U. S. Navy;" J. T.
Scharf, "History of the Confederate States Navy," Bennet
Woodcroft, "Origin of Steam Navigation;" "Wm. C. Church,
"Life of John Ericsson;" H. O. Ladd, " The War With Mexico;"
Chief Engineer B. F. Isherwood, "Engineering Precedents," and
"Experimental Researches;" Chief Engineer George W. Melville,
" In the Lena Delta;" Mrs. Emma De Long, " The Yoyage of the
Jeannette;" Chief Engineer James W. King, "European Ships of
War," and Wm. Fairbairn, " History of Iron Ship-Building. " The
Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers has furnished
complete data regarding naval and commercial steamers of the
United States and foreign countries for the past seven years, or ever
since that journal was established.

Appendix A is known to be imperfect in not containing the
names of that great body of patriotic Americans who served their
country so well as volunteer engineers in the n;ivy during the long
war for the preservation of the Union: they numbered upwards of
twenty-five hundred and their names and records when displayed in
tabular form were found to fill so many pages as to exceed the limits

CONTENTS.

proposed for this volume, which obliged the author reluctantly to
abandon his original intention of including them in the list of officers
of the regular service.

Appendix B is also incomplete for lack of space. To prop-
erly present in tables all the important data relating to our naval
steamers, their engines, boilers, builders, synopsis of service, etc.,
would require pages of folio, or at least quarto, size, the tables given
being consequently limited by the size of these pages to a few
columns of the most important items. Lack of space has also caused
the omission from these tables of the names of a large number of
steamers purchased or captured during the Civil War and used tem-
porarily as war vessels. An excellent list of naval vessels, giving
all useful information, was published in book form in 1853 by
Lieutenant (afterwards rear admiral) George F. Emmons, but noth-
ing of the kind has appeared recently. Some officer with a liking
for statistics could not be better employed at present than in the
preparation of similar tables brought up to date, uiing the Emmons
book as a model, for it cannot be improved upon in form and
arrangement. Unless this is done soon, much useful and interesting
information will be lost, as the author, with all the records of the
Navy Department to refer to, found great difficulty in collecting
data pertaining to ships not more than thirty years old.

Appendix C, "Uncle Samuel's Whistle and What It Costs, "
is amusing rather than instructive. It is reprinted to gratify requests
made by a number of present and former members of the engineer
corps. It is hoped it will please the older officers of the navy to see
it again in print, while it certainly will amuse the younger men of
the service who have never seen it.

The author submits no apology for making this book. It is a
custom in armies and navies for the histories of distinct corps,
departments, regiments, and even ships, to be written, and, although
the supply of books in the world is far too great, there is room for
one more to tell the story of steam in the American Navy. The only
regret felt by the writer in giving this volume to his friends and the
public is because of its imperfections: the subject deserves better
treatment, and with more time and better opportunities to bestow
upon it could be made more valuable as a history and more attractive
in literary form. As it is, it has cost much research and hard work
in the intervals of busy employment afloat and ashore, and it is now
open to criticism. F. M. B.

New York, August, 1896.

THE

STEAM NAVY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

The Steam Navy of the United States.

CHAPTER I.

" For we are to bethink us that the Epic verily is not Arms and the Man,
but Tools and the Man — an infinitely wider kind of Epic." — Thomas Caklylb:
Past and Present, Book IV., Chapter 1.

INTRODUCTORY.

A glorious epic of the olden world, with the first lines of
which most modern men are familiar, sings in stately rythm of
' ' The arms and the man who first from the shores of the Trojan into
Italy came, ' ' and this association of man and his weapons has re-
mained through all the ages as the symbol and corner stone of all
human government, power, and progress. The events of the cent-
ury now drawing to its end have to a considerable extent shaken
this ideal, for other things than arms have come to be recognized in
the story of man's development a change in sentiment
expressed to perfection by that prince of modern philosophers
in the words that appear at the head of this chapter. In under-
taking the subject of this volume the author does not propose
to sing, or try to sing, of tools and men alone, nor will he
attempt to elevate either tools or arms to the disadvantage of the
other; but rather, believing that the adoption of steam machinery
for purposes of war furnishes the most perfect illustration in exis-
tence of the mutual dependence and co-operation of these two great
factors in civilization, he will endeavor to treat them as equals, for
the arm is a tool and the tool is an arm, and their uses and purposes
are identical within the limits of the subject of this book.

The story of the application of steam power to navigation,
especially to the navigation and operation of ships of war,„ is a long
one, and one which must be imperfectly told in the following chap-
ters for the reason that the slow acceptance and growth of the new
element will be considered with reference to one country and one

2 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

navy oaly. Men who have made a study of the history of war, or
who have given even a reasonable amount of reading to the subject
are familiar with the reluctance with which the older weapons were
laid aside for those which came in with the use of gunpowder.
"YiHainous saltpetre" was for a long era an object of dislike and
distrust and those who used it were regarded with disfavor if not
with contempt; they did not meet the enemy in hand-to-hand con-
flict with sword and spear; they begrimed their hands and clothing
with burnt powder; they could not join in the rush and blood-stirring
excitement of the charge, but stood off from friend and foe encum-
bered with their heavy weapons, creating an ill-smelling smoke and
discordant noises, and their labors were very grudgingly admitted to
be of any real advantage. So strong was the aversion to the new
implement that in 1544, two hundred years after cannon are known
to have been used by civilized nations in battle, * an historian deal-
ing with the subject wrote that a monk was the inventor of cannon ;
adding that "the villian who brought into the world so mischievous
a thing is not worthy that his name should remain in the memory of
men."

As they did not take part in hand-to-hand conflict, gunners were
looked upon as non-combatants, quite inferior to the warriors of the
broad-sword and battle-axe variety, and as their weapon was very
slow in its development they remained in an inferior military posi-
tion for many centuries. It is an historical fact that it was not until
just before the beginning of the American Revolution that the artil-
lery branch of the British army, after a protracted but triumphant
struggle with prejudice, "had vindicated its right to be, and was con-
sidered an important combatant arm. "2 So complete has been the
change of sentiment with respect to cannon within about one hund-
red years that men belonging to military establishments now, especi-
ally navies, who make a point of priding themselves upon being es-
sentially combatants, base their claim wholly upon the circumstance
that their business is to handle cannon and gunpowder. The effect

» At Crecy in 1346. Traditions more or less authentic carry the use of " fire
pipes" or other obscurely described weapons back almost to the beginning of thl
Christian era. ° UB

* Lieutenant W. E. Birkhimer: " Historical Sketch of the Artillery T7 <a
Army." •" ' °*

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

of the prejudice of centuries against firearms is still visible in the
lingering regiments of lancers, armed with the spear, occasionally
met with in the great armies of the most progressive powers.

The introduction of steam into naval operations has revolution-
ized the fighting tactics of navies to fully as great an extent as gun-
powder changed the methods of fighting on land, and in precisely
the same manner has the development of steam been hindered by a
prejudice born of older things and intolerant of change. Gunpowder
has long since won its struggle, and steam on shore has been equally
successful, but steam at sea is still in the very thickest of the fight
for recognition upon its merit, and this in spite of the fact that the
vehicle for its use — the marine engine — has advanced further
toward perfection within the hundred years of its life than did
the cannon during all the centuries from Crecy to Sedan, and is
now in a stage of development fully abreast, if not actually ahead
of the most perfected pieces of ordnance. That steam will win an
equal place and equal honor with gunpowder and the propelling
and auxiliary engines of a ship of war will come to be recognized as
arms fully as important in making up the ship's combative qualities,
as the turret and machine guns is a matter of simple logic; it only
remains to be seen how long it will be before preconceived notions
will admit the value of a new weapon.

It is proposed to begin with the first steam war- vessel ever built,
which happened to be in our own navy, and to trace from that clumsy
beginning the slow development of the naval steamer, with such il-
lustrations as have been obtainable, in such manner that the chapters of
this book will be an orderly and progressive account of the growth of the
war-steamer and the marine engine in the United States. Into this nar-
rative, as a most essential part, will be woven the history of the
engineer corps of the navy, whose members have, in the face of much
that was discouraging, kept the standard of our steamers fully up to
that of other nations and have made the new navy, with its swift
steel ships and perfected machinery, an established fact. Naval histo-
ries,'1 of which there are many, deal almost entirely with the deeds
of those who fight in ships that they have received completed from
the hands of the builders, and in a majority of cases have little or
nothing to say of the ships themselves or of their makers, or of that
other class of officials who not only design and build the vitals of all

4 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

modern war-ships but fight in the ships themselves as part of their
naval duties. In making this work statistical to a considerable ex-
tent with regard to our naval steamers it is therefore proper that the
lives and deeds of those who have been so intimately connected with
them be also told, descriptively as well as statistically, and in so do-
ing the author believes he will supply a lack that many beside him-
self have noticed in the older and more pretentious histories of our
navy.

It has been written that it is difficult to become sentimental
about the engineer. This idea is born of the belief that he deals
only with material things and takes no part in the glorious possibili-
ties of war or in the victories that are won from storms. This theory
is absolutely false; his post of duty is as dangerous, as responsible,
and as romantic, if you will, as any in a ship if people did but know
it, and it is only because of a cultivated fondness for things that have
been long celebrated in song and story that they do not know it.
The life of the old-time sailor was in reality commonplace enough to
satisfy even a ploughman, but an admiration for the sea and those
who face its dangers on the part of those who never go to sea has
made of the sailor's existence a picturesque ideal that has become an
article of faith with all landsmen. And this faith excludes the new
type of seaman — the man of the engine and boiler rooms — from any
share in the romance of the sea because he faces dangers of another
kind and performs his duty in another atmosphere, though equally
exposed to the dangers that are peculiar to a life afloat. When some
poet with a clearer vision and a willingness to enter an untrodden
field shall appear and sing the song of steam it will be a revelation
.y to the multitude; for there is music and romance and poetry as well
as the embodiment of power about the mechanisms that drive the
great ships of to-day.

From a habit of thought, then, rather than from any real state
of affairs, the engine-room men of modern fleets are denied partici-
pation and honor in much of the life in which they take a leading part.
With but little change, Napier's famous comparision of the condi-
tions surrounding the British and French soldiers in the Peninsular
War applies most aptly to the relation between the artificer and
sailor classes in modern navies. The British soldier, though patiently
fighting to conquer, could look forward to no honors to reward his

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

daring; no despatch gave his name to the plaudits of his country-
men; his life of danger and hardship was uncheered by hope, his
death unnoticed. At the same time, "Napoleon's troops fought in
bright fields, where every helmet caught some beams of glory." In
just the same way the naval engineer and his men toil in darkness in
the depths of the ship, knowing full well that much they do will be
unknown and unnoticed, however important it may be; and they
often meet emergencies so bravely that their ships are saved from
destruction or disablement both in peace and war, as will be shown
hereafter by a few notable instances of duty, well done, that have come
to light out of the many that have been performed.

Few naval engineeers of any length of service have not once at
least, been suddenly brought face to face with death in its most fear-
ful form by being called upon to act in an emergency resulting from
a damaged boiler or steam pipe, and the instances are few where
they have failed to prevent a calamity by sticking to their posts and
encouraging their men to do the needful work, often so quietly that
knowledge of the danger averted does not extend beyond the fire-
room. If equal danger were faced from shot and shell in the smoke
of battle, popular applause and military rewards would follow, but
the engineer, encountering his peril in clouds of scalding steam and
in the choke and wither of fierce fires suddenly hauled, does not ap-
peal to the popular idea of heroism, though his acts are heroic and
his performance of duty in navies is a military act just as much as
nailing a flag to a mast, stopping a shot hole, or fishing a mast under
fire, are military duties. Nor has he even the consoling thought
when confronted with an emergency of meeting a death accounted
heroic, for if he dies it must be like a rat in a hole, for which there
is no glory, popular fancy regarding no death for one's country
glorious, unless it is met not only beneath the flag but in full sight of it.

Popular ideaB of naval administration are based upon a partial
knowledge of an order of things that is no more, and not upon fa-
miliarity with conditions that really exist. Whatever notions the pub-
lic may entertain, the fact remains that a much firmer and finer de-
gree of courage is required in the officer who controls a division of
men, either in peace or war, imprisoned beneath the battle-hatches
of a war-steamer than in him whose men are in the open air and in
flight of their danger. If the habit of command is ever needed in an

6 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

officer it is in the trying emergencies and conditions that beset the
naval engineer, and he who posesses it to the degree that enables him
in a critical moment to keep his men at their posts and free from
panic, thereby making of them and the machinery they handle a
fighting factor that can be relied upon, is aiding his commanding
officer in carrying out a plan of battle to folly as great an extent as
can any other officer who directs the handling of two or four guns;
and the officer who does this is most thoroughly and essentially a
combatant, performing duties directly contributory to the fighting
capabilities of the ship. This proposition needs no proof to those
familiar with modern naval conditions, but as one of the purposes of
this book is to set the position of Americaa naval engineers in a true
light before the public a number of instances of gallantry and profes-
sional efficiency on their part will be recited to prove that they actu-
ally and by right, by virtue of the duties they perform, belong to the
combatant class of naval officers, of the navy as well as in the navy.
As the Civil War furnishes the example of the most prolonged
and arduous service that our navy has ever been called upon to per-
form, and is, moreover, the first and only instance of great naval
operations being carried on by means of steam vessels, it wiH be
taken as the proper field for illustrating the nature and importance
of the duties that engineers have rendered this country in its naval
service. Though nearly one-half of this volume will be devoted to
the work of the navy during the Civil War, no idea has been enter-
tained of giving even an outline of our naval history during that pe-
riod. A sufficient number of naval engagements and undertakings
will be narrated in chronological order to give an ordinarily good
idea of the general services performed by the navy, and an effort
will be made to trace with some care the* changes in type of naval
steam-ships and marine engines resulting from the experiences of the
war. In all of this no undue or undeserved prominence will be given
to the naval engineer corps or to any of its members, but where en-
gineers have rendered conspicuous service, either in battle or in pro-
paring ships and machinery for use in war, full credit will be accorded
them. This being a history of engines and engineers, it is natural
that engineers should be frequently mentioned, but that does
not leave the inference that they were the only officers engaged in
carrying on the war on the part of the navy; on the contrary th

THE STEAM NAYY OF THE UNITED STATES.

aim is simply to show that they did contribute much to the success
of the Union arms and were much more than civilian adjuncts to the
officers charged with the execution of general operations, whom they
helped so well. The latter cannot at this late day regret that the
story of the devotion of their engineer colleagues is to be told, es-
pecially as the story of their own deeds has been told often and well
and has become a glorious part of our naval history.

CHAPTER II.

" Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air."

Eeasmtjs Darwin.

The Demologos,1 or Fulton, the First Steam War- Vessel ever Built — Eobert Ful-
ton—The Sea Gull— The Fulton, 2d— Mr. Charles H. Haswell, the First
Engineer in the United States Navy— Captain M. C. Perry's Eecommenda-
tions Eegarding Engineers' Force — Regulations Governing Appointment of
Engineers— Performance of the Fulton Under Steam — Her Subsequent Ca-
reer— Captain Perry's Interest in Engineers.

THE first steam
vessel for war
purposes in the
United States na-

vy.

or m

any

navy for that mat-
ter, was the Demo-
logos, or Fulton,
designed by Mr.
Eobert Fulton and
" built under his su-
, pervision in New
H Yorkinl814, while
P the war with Great
Britain was going
on. Owing to diffi-
culties in obtaining
material and skilled labor, this vessel, or floating battery, was not
completed in time to be used against the British fleet, then con-
stantly hovering about the port of New York, an unfortunate circum-
stance that is to be regretted for more reasons than one. The sub-
sequent performance of this peculiar craft under steam makes it

WAR STEAMER FUT.TON THE FIRST, OR, DKMOLOGOS.

111 Voice of the People."

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

certain that with her powerful battery and independence of wind and
tide she would have been entirely successful oyer the sailing-frigates
she was built to assail, her advantage over them being not unlike
that possessed by a savage, tireless wolf attacking a flock of sheep.
Her earlier advent would have saved us the loss of the President
frigate, and thus deprived the enemy of one of the very few causes
for rejoicing over naval victories that the events of that war afforded.

Of much more importance would have been the incalculable im-
pulse given to steam as a factor in naval warfare that would have
followed the success of the Demologos in battle, and which would
have set forward the development of the times in this regard almost
half a century. The duel between the rudely-fashioned ironclads
Monitor and Merrimac completely changed the naval architecture of
the world, but who can tell of the absolute revolution, not only in
naval architecture but in the methods of naval warfare, that would
have resulted from the trial of Fulton's invention in actual war ? In-
stead of being afterward obliged to fight its way inch by inch and
foot by foot, compelled to struggle against every obstacle and every
objection which jealousy, conservatism, and ignorance could bar
against its progress, slowly and painfully forcing an unwilling and
qualified recognition from the very element that should have cham-
pioned its cause, steam-power would have appeared in the arena fully
armed and equipped from the brain of its master, and would have
been hailed not only as an auxiliary, but as an all-important arm in
naval warfare.

The dimensions of the Demologos were: length, one hundred
and fifty-six feet; breadth, fifty-six feet; depth, twenty feet; ton-
nage, two thousand four hundred and seventy-five; water-wheel,
sixteen feet in diameter, fourteen feet wide, four feet dip; engine,
cylinder forty-eight inches diameter, and five feet stroke; boiler,
length, twenty- two feet; breadth, twelve feet; depth, eight feet.

The total cost of the vessel was % 320, 000, or about the cost of
a first-class frigate, the Constitution, built in 1797, having cost origi-
nally $302,719.

A comparision of these dimensions with the views of this pio-
neer war-steamer given in this chapter shows that the drawings are
somewhat out of proportion to the scale marked on them; they are,
nevertheless, of great interest and value as being exact copies of the

DEMOLOGOS"

Figure 1* Tiwuverse &c7unAAerJtoi/er,B the steam E^ine^t/tewaiBri^hpel,

EE her wockn. vaSs 5fee t thick, d^uu^u^tiibelim' the ^cd^rluufss s{Y^,i

Fig. I.

'MsTiergwiiieck itOfeet Ima ».
~^&fel vide, mmmbyZOgimsAJiMWgler wheel

&diJ$e~*r,

■Fzff

ROBERT FULTON

FEOM STUAKT'S NAVAL AND MAIL STEAMERS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. n

originals made by Robert Fuken and exhibited by him to the Presi-
dent of the United States when advocating his plan of applying steam
to naval warfare. Fulton had his interview with the Executive late
in 1813 and his project was zealously accepted, Congress, in March,
1814, authorhskig the President to have built and equipped one or
more such floating batteries for the defense of the coast.

The Coast and Harbor Defense Association, having charge of
the building of war vessels, committed the building of the Demologos
to a sub-committee of five prominent gentlemen, and Eobert Fulton
was appointed the engineer in charge of the work. The complete
vessel — hull, engines and boilers — was designed by Fulton and the
engines and boilers were built by him at his machine works on the
North River. The hull was built at the ship-yard of Adam and Noah
Brown on the East River and was launched in the presence of a great
multitude of spectators, October 29, 1814, a little more than four
months after the keds were laid. The plural is used intentionally,
as the structure, as may be seen from the drawings, consisted of two
hulk with the paddle-wheel working in a channel or canal between
them; this canal was not continuous from end to end of the vessel,
but is described as occupying a space of about sixty feet adjacent to
the wheel, with its approaches presumably sloped off to prevent the
action of the wheel from being inutile.

In November the hull was moved from the ship-yard to Fulton's
engine works and the machinery installed, that labor being com-
pleted by the end of May," 1815. Certain changes were made in the
vessel about this time on the recommendation of Captain David Porter,
who had just returned home from his unfortunate cruise with the Es-
sex and had been assigned to the command of the war-steamer. The
original plan was to rely upon steam alone for propulsion, but Por-
ter regarded this with misgiving and caused two large masts to be
stepped to support latteen sails, and bowsprits for jibs, with all the
accompanying top-hamper; he also had the sides, originally stopped
flush at the spar deck, carried up to form protecting bulwarks for the
sailors who would be on deck attending to the sails and rigging that
had been added. The boiler, or " caldron for preparing her steam,"
as the gentlemen having charge of the work called it in their report,
was also changed, probably by Fulton's direction, and two boilers
were installed instead of one. Owing to the rigor of the British

12 THE STEAM .NAVY OF THE D-NITED STATES

blockade about New York, guns for the vessel had to be hauled over-
land from Philadelphia, they having been taken from an armed British
ship named John, of Lancaster, captured by the President early in the
war. In June, 1815, the Demologos steamed about New York Bay
to try her machinery and found its performance to exceed every ex-
pectation; in the words of an early writer, "she exhibited a novel
and sublime spectacle to an admiring people."

On the fourth of July of the same year, she made a passage to
the ocean and back, steaming fifty-three miles in all, without any aid
from her sails, in eight hours and twenty minutes; the wind and tide
were partly in her favor and partly against her, the average rather in
her favor. In September she made another trial trip to the sea, and
having at this time the weight of her whole armament on board, she
went at an average of five and a half miles an hour, with and against
the tide. When stemming the tide, which ran at the rate of three
miles an hoar, she advanced at the rate of two and a half miles an
hour. This performance was not more than equal to Robert Fulton's
expectations, but it exceeded what he had promised to the govern-
ment, which was that she should be propelled by steam at the rate
of from three to four miles an hour.

The British were not uninformed as to the preparations which
were making for them, nor inattentive to their progress. It is cer-
tain that the steam battery lost none of her terrors in the reports or
imaginations of the enemy, as we find the following information in a
treatise on steam vessels published in Scotland at that time, the au-
thor stating that he had taken great care to procure full and accurate
accounts:

"Length on deck, three hundred feet; breadth, two hundred
feet; thickness of her sides, thirteen, feet of alternate oak plank and
cork wood — carries forty-four guns, four of which are hundred pound-
ers; quarter-deck and forecastle guns, forty-four pounders; and
further to annoy an enemy attempting to board, can discharge one
hundred gallons of boiling water in a minute, and by mechanism
brandishes three hundred cutlasses with the utmost regularity over her
gunwales; works also an equal number of heavy iron pikes of o-reat
length, darting them from her sides with prodigious force, and with-
drawing them every quarter of a minute!"

H
o
Si

o
p
o
a
o

14 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

By one of those inexplicable cruelties of fate, Mr. Fulton, whose
heart and soul were absorbed in the progress of his structure, was
taken ill and died suddenly in February, 1815, before the vessel was
completed, so he never knew of the great success he had achieved.
Referring to this sad event, the report of the construction committee
says: "Their exertions were further retarded by the premature and
unexpected death of the engineer. The world was deprived of his
invaluable labors before he had completed his favorite undertaking.
They will not inquire, wherefore, in the dispensations of a Divine
Providence, he was not permitted to realize his grand conception.
His discoveries, however, survive for the benefit of 'mankind, and will
extend to unborn generations."

The same committee report, signed by Messrs. Samuel L.
Mitchell, Thomas Morris, and Henry Rutgers, contains many opin-
ions and recommendations of great wisdom, indicating that the men
of those days were more far-seeing and thoughtful than those of a
later generation, and more disposed to appreciate the importance of
new discoveries. Although written eighty years ago, the following
paragraphs from the report sound not unlike the more progressive
naval opinions of to-day, especially in that part relating to the neces-
sity of training men for steam service, a subject that has been re-
commended and as regularly neglected from time to time ever since
1815:

' ' The Commissioners congratulate the Government and the na-
tion on the event of this noble project. Honorable alike to its au-
thor and its patrons, it constitutes an era in warfare and the arts.
The arrival of peace, indeed, has disappointed the expectations of
conducting her to battle. That last and conclusive act of showing
her superiority in combat, has not been in the power of the Commis-
sioners to make.

"If a continuance of tranquility should be our lot, and this
steam vessel of war be not required for the public defense, the nation
may rejoice that the fact we have ascertained is of incalculably greater
value than the expenditure — and that if the present structure should
perish, we have the information never to perish, how, in a future
emergency, others may be built. The requisite variations will be
dictated by circumstances.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 15

' 'Owing to the cessation of hostilities, it has been deemed inexpe-
dient to finish and equip her as for immediate and active employ. In
a few weeks everything that is incomplete could receive the proper
adjustment.

"After so much has been done, and with such encouraging re-
sults, it becomes the Commissioners to recommend that the steam
frigate be officered and manned for discipline and practice. A dis-
creet commander, with a selected crew, could acquire experience in
the mode of navigating this peculiar vessel. The supplies of fuel,
the tending of the fires, the replenishing of the expended water, the
management of the mechanism, the heating of shot, the exercise of
the guns, and various matters, can only become familiar by use. It
is highly important that a portion of tie seamen and marines should
be versed in the order and economy of the steam frigate. They will
augment, diffuse, and perpetuate knowledge. When, in process of
time, another war shall call for more structures of this kind, men,
regularly trained to her tactics, may be dispatched to the several sta-
tions where they may be wanted."

There being no active service in the navy against the enemy;
the Demologos, or Fulton, as she was afterward named, was taken
to the Brooklyn navy yard and used as a receiving ship for many
years, until, on the fourth day or June, 1829, her magazine, containing
two and one-half barrels of damaged powder used for firing the morn-
ing and evening gun, blew up, entirely destroying the vessel, killing
twenty-four persons and wounding nineteen others. Lieutenant S.
M. Breckenridge was among the killed, as was also a woman who
happened to be on board at the time. The cause of the explosion has
never been known, although there was a tale current at the time that
it was the deliberate act of a gunner's mate who had been disrated
and flogged the morning of the day on which the catastrophe occur-
red. It is also said to have resulted from gross carelessness, survi-
vors stating that the powder was kept in open kegs and that in the
"bag-room" next the magazine, and separated from it only by a
light bulkhead in which was a sliding door, the marine sergeant had
a desk and was allowed to use an open light. Whatever the cause,
the destruction was complete, and terminated the history of the
first steam vessel of war ever built.

16 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

No engineers came into the navy because ©f the existence of
the Demologos, men from Fulton's works having operated the machin-
ery on the three occasions when she was under way with her own
steam, and her engines were not moved after she was laid up in the
navy yard. The next steamer to appear in the navy was the galliot
Sea Gull, of one hundred tons, purchased in New York for $16,000
in 1822 and used as a despatch boat in Porter's "Mosquito fleet,"
employed in the West Indies for the suppression of piracy in 1823-
24. There is no record of the men who had charge of the machinery
of this little craft and we can only surmise that they were probably the
same who had run her before she was purchased, and that their con-
nection with the service was merely temporary. The Sea Gull was
laid up in 1825 at Philadelphia, where she remained until 1840 when
she was sold for $4,750.

For ten years after the Sea Gull was laid up, steamers do not
appear in the official literature of the navy, though the same period
witnessed a most wonderful development of the application of steam
to navigation for commercial purposes, and steamers had visited"In-
dia, China, the West Indies and other parts of the world, as well as
having made the trans-Atlantic voyage no longer a marvellous one
when performed under steam. That our navy was not the only one
to remain in ignorance and indifference while this great change in
marine affairs was going on all about it, is shown by the circumstance
that in 1831 a steamer built in Quebec was, while on a peaceful voy-
age to London, fired on by a British frigate in the Gulf of St. Law-
rence and compelled to heave-to until the officers of the frigate were
satisfied that there was nothing diabolical in her construction. This
same steamer, the Royal William by name, was sold after arriving
in London to the Spanish government, and, under the name of Isa-
bella the Second, became the first steam war-ship of that nation.

In 1835, under date of June 26, Mr. Mahlon Dickerson, then
Secretary of the Navy, addressed a letter to the Board of Navy Com-
missioners, calling attention to an act of Congress dated April 29,
1816, which authorized the construction of a steam vessel, and re-
questing that the Board take immediate measures for commencing and
completing such vessel; further directing that plans of the vessel
and machinery be submitted to the Department for the approval of
the President.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 17

At that time there were about 700 steam vessels in use on the
waters of the United States, the most of them being on the rivers and
lakes, although some coastwise steamship lines had been established:
with few exceptions these vessels were not larger than a modern steam
tug, and their machinery was of the most crude design and workman-
ship, the chief object being to hammer together a boiler that would not
leak too much to prevent the accumulation of some steam within it,
and to hew out of heavy iron castings a cylinder with a roughly- fitted
piston that could be forced to move back and forth under steam-pres-
sure with reasonable regularity. There were at that time, of course,
men of scientific attainments who were giving attention to the theory
of the steam engine, and who had made considerable progress toward
the solution of those thermo-dynamic problems, the knowledge of
which in our own day has made the steam engine a comparatively
economical machine.

To these experts, who were usually the managers or superintend-
ents of the larger engine-building establishments then in existence,
the Board of Navy Commissioners appealed for advice and help, but
it does not appear from the records that any great amount of comfort
was derived in this manner. One Wm. Kemble, who was the agent
for the West Point Foundry Association, cheerfully supplied the Board
with dissertations on the comparative merits of condensing and high-
pressure engines and the theory of working steam expansively, giv-
ing copious opinions of Watt, Trevithick, Oliver Evans, and other
authorities, all of which must have been highly interesting reading
for the Board. One of these letters closes as follows: "I have given
you our views candidly, but we are ready to execute any plan which
the more extensive views and experience of the Board may decide
on. ' ' Whether this was the irony of an expert who appreciated the
humor of the situation, or was simply the homage demanded by the
standing of the Board of Navy Commissioners, is open to doubt, but
as no catastrophe to Mr. Kemble followed, we may conclude that the
Board accepted this insinuation of its engineering wisdom as a proper
and customary due.

Construction work on the hull of the vessel went forward rapidly
at the New York navy yard, but the Navy Commissioners do not seem
to have made corresponding progress in mastering the science of ma-
rine engineering, for we find them presently driven to the extremity
of addressing the following letter to the Secretary of the Navy:

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Navy Comahssioiusbs' Office, December 30, 1835.
" Sie: The Commissioners of the Navy have, in conformity with
the terms of your letter of the 26th instant, caused an advertisement
to be published asking for proposals for furnishing the steam engines
for the the steam vessel now building at New York. From their ig-
norance upon the subject of steam engines they are in doubt whether
the advertisement gives the necessary information to enable persons to
make proper offers. They are satisfied that they are incompetent
themselves, and have no person under their direction who could fur-
nish them with the necessary information to form a contract for steam
engines that may secure the United States from imposition, disap-
pointment, and loss, should the lowest offers happen to be made by
persons whose general character and responsibility would not offer
great security for their completing the engines in the best manner,
according to the intentions and wishes of the board, in case the pre-
cise terms of the contract should leave them a legal opportunity of
evading its spirit.

"The board beg leave, therefore, to request your authority for
engaging some person who may be deemed competent to advise them
upon this subject, and to superintend and inspect the engines during
their progress, and until they shall be satisfactorily tested, and to
designate the fund from which his compensation shall be paid.

"Respectfully, etc.,

"John Rodgees."

This request for the professional services of an engineer not meet-
ing with any immediate response from the Secretary, the board re-
newed its call for help a month later by the following communication:

"Sie: The board would respectfully recall your attention to
their letter of the 30th ultimo, in relation to the employment of an
engineer; his services will be much wanted in superintending the con-
struction and arrangement of the engines and boilers, and afterwards
to work them in the vessel. As it will be desirable to obtain satis-
factory testimonials of the qualifications of any person who may be
thus employed, which may consume some time, an early decision may
prove advantageous.

"Respectfully, etc.,

"John Rodgees."

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 19

Mr. Charles H. Haswell of New York became an applicant for
the position of engineer which the Board of Navy Commissioners was
so anxious to have filled, but his appointment was not made until the
Board had taken occasion, while admitting the excellence of his pro-
fessional knowledge as shown by his testimonials and conversation,
to express grave doubts as to his practical familiarity with the manipu-
lation of marine machinery, from which circumstance we of this day,
who not infrequently encounter the same criticism, may see that the
mistrust, inconsequential as it is, is by no means new. The Board
qualified its doubt in Mr. Haswell's case with the following ingenu-
ous confession: "How far such practical knowledge may be absolutely
necessary, or can be supplied by superior information upon the con-
struction of the engine itself, the Board has no means of determining,
except such as are common to other persons." Mr. Haswell's ap-
pointment, made two days after the comments of the Board were sub-
mitted to the Department, reads as follows:

" Navy Department, February 19, 1836.

" Sir: In your letter to the Commissioners of the Navy yester-
day, you offer to furnish draughts of a high and low-pressure steam
engine and boiler, on different elevations, suitable for the steam ves-
sel now constructing by the Government of the United States, for the
purposes stated.

"You are therefore appointed, for the term of two months, to
make such draughts and report the same to the Board of Navy Com-
missioners, for which you will receive a compensation of two hundred
and fifty dollars.

"Mahlon Dickeeson.

"To Mr. C. H. Haswell, Washington."

In mid- summer following, under date of July 12th, 1836, Mr.
Haswell was appointed chief engineer for the Fidton, as the steam-
vessel then building was named; he thus becoming the first person to
hold the position of engineer in the United States navy. Mr. Has-
well was then an engineer of ability and established professional rep-
utation, being earnestly engaged in the task, at that time a doubtful
one, of proving the reliability of steam as a marine motor, independ-
ent of any aid from sails. To him has been granted a privilege that

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

comes to few men in any calling on this earth, for it has been his for-
tune to witness the emblem of his profession — the steamship — grow
from its awkward infancy to its present gigantic and perfected form,
a development in which he has had a prominent part during all these
decades, and which in the completeness of the changes that have been
wrought,far exceeds the magical transformations of a dream or the en-
chantments of a fairy-tale. In the great harbor where, as a young
man, he saw the embryo steamer timidly and alone making its uncer-
tain wake, an object so rare that curious crowds always flocked to
watch it, he has been spared until now to see in his old age the crude
and clumsy Fulton transformed into the Columbia or the New York,
and the pioneer passenger steamers changed, as if by the magician's
wand, into the Umbria, the Majestic, and the Campania.

V. S. STEAMER FULTON (THE SECOND), 1837.

The following were the principal dimensions of the Fulton:
Length of vessel between perpendiculars. . 180 ft.

Beam on deck (extreme) 34 " 8 in.

Depth of hold 12 " 2 "

Mean draft 10 " 6 "

Immersed midship section at mean draft. . . 308 square ft.

Weight of hull 470 tons.

Depth of keel 12 inches.

Displacement at mean draft (about) 1,200 tons.

The engines and boilers were built by the West Point Foundry
Association of New York, under a contract dated January 23, 1837

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 21

the engines in type and location being from the designs prepared
for the Board of Navy Commissioners by Mr. Haswell, and the
boilers from the designs of Mr. Charles W. Copeland, the engineer
of the West Point company. There were two horizontal condensing
engines located on the spar deck, the cylinders being of nine feet
stroke and fifty inches in diameter, each engine turning a side -wheel
twenty-two feet nine inches in diameter, and eleven feet six inches
wide. The contract provided for a thwartship shaft to connect the
two wheel shafts, at an additional cost of $2,000, if required, but the
requirement was not made and the vessel was completed without such
connection. So undeveloped was the art of iron manufacture at that
time that the cranks and shafts were made of cast iron. The con-
tract price for the engines was $40,000, to which was added $198.57
for authorized changes. The wheels cost $9,000. The boilers were
built by the contractors at the New York navy yard for eight and
one-half cents a pound, the Government furnishing the material,
which consisted of copper plates and rivet rods provided in 1816 for
another vessel like the Demologos, which was never built. The total
cost of boilers, including the material and labor, was $93,396.06.
Originally there were four wagon-shaped boilers of -the return-flue
type, each sixteen feet long, ten feet six inches wide, and nine feet
three inches high, but these were afterward changed to two boilers
twenty-five feet nine inches long, the other dimensions remaining
unchanged. These boilers were located in the hold under the en
gines, and were supplied with separate smoke pipes. The total cost
of the vessel when completed — hull, equipments and machinery —
was $299,649.81.

The weight of engines was 81 tons; of boilers, including smoke
pipes, steam pipes and connections, 119 tons, and water in the boil-
ers, 41 tons. On a trial trip the following winter, Chief Engineer
Haswell computed the horse-power developed to be 625, from which
we observe that the weight of machinery per horse-power was about
three times as much as under present practice.

The steamer was launched May 18, 1837, and the work of in-
stalling the machinery immediately undertaken; this work was much
hindered by the action of the Board of Navy Commissioners in re-
fusing to allow the hull to be taken to the engine builders' works on
the North river, thus compelling the contractors to transport the en-

22 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

gines in pieces to the navy yard. The Commissioners, in refusing
the application to have the hull moved, said that they did not "feel
themselves justified in permitting the vessel to be moved from the
navy yard to a place over which they have no control," although
why they should have felt this way is not apparent, as they had pre-
viously confessed their incompetency to deal with matters relating to
the vessel's machinery. This action forced the contractors to file a
claim for ' ' increased expense in the putting up of the work, together
with an additional delay of not less than three weeks," just as con-
tractors do now when their work is retarded by the interference of
naval officers. Truly, there is no new thing under the sun.

About the first of September Captain Matthew C. Perry took
general charge of the steamer, and immediately began investigating
the subject of personnel required for her operation, the result of his
researches being communicated to the Navy Commissioners by the

following report:

" New York, September 11, 1837.

" Gentlemen: — I have sought to obtain the best information in
reference to the number of engineers, firemen, &c, that will be re-
quired for the steam frigate Fulton, and the following is the result
of the combined opinions of the various persons consulted:

"The lowest number for putting the engines in operation —

"2 lst-class assistant engineers, at $800 per annum.

"2 2nd-class assistant engineers, at $500 per annum.

" 8 firemen, at from $25 to $30 per month. The firemen to be
paid either of those amounts, at the discretion of the captain, as suit-
able persons can be obtained.

"4 or 6 coal heavers, at $15 per month.

"Add to this when the vessel is in actual operation

"1 chief engineer, 4 additional firemen and 4 coal heavers.

"The coal holes are at the ends of the boilers, opposite to the
furnaces, and the coal must necessarily be transported some dis-
tance.

"These are the estimates of Mr. Haswell, Mr. Kimble and
several other competent persons with whom I have conferred on the
subject.

" It is apparent that no less than four engineers will answer as
it requires two constantly at the levers, by which the engines are

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 'Zis

stopped and put in motion, which are worked on the spar deck, and
two at the engines and boilers lelow deck, to watch the machinery
and attend the water in the boilers — a most important consideration,
as by the least neglect in this particular some accident occurs or the
boilers are burnt.

" It is necessary, also, that the firemen should be somewhat ac-
quainted with the operation of the engines, the mode of supplying
the boilers, &c. , as also the mode of placing the coals to prevent
the burning of the furnaces.

' ' The gentlemen all agree that the above is the least number
that prudence and economy would authorize.

" The large North river and Rhode Island boats have three en-
gineers each, and their firemen understand starting and stopping the
engines, regulating the steam, &c. Their wages are — for the chief
engineer, $1,000 per annum; two assistants, at $360 and $600 per
annum. Add to this their board, which, in the navy, would be de-
frayed by themselves all beyond the ration of 20 cents per day.

"Those denominated first-class assistants for the navy should
correspond in qualifications with the chief engineers of private
steamers, and their assistants with the second-class proposed for the
navy, as it is supposed that the Government can hire persons on
lower terms.

"It has been suggested, in which I fully concur, that there
should be these several described rates among the engineers and
firemen in our national steamers, the better to distribute authority
and responsibility, and to produce a proper ambition with the in-
ferior rates to rise to the higher classes.

" I enclose herewith a letter from Captain William Comstock,
giving his views on the subject. And it may be remarked here,
that all concur in the opinion of the necessity of separating the reg-
ular crew from any interference with the engineers.

"I would respectfully invite the attention of the Commission-
ers to the consideration of the tenure by which these assistant engin-
eers are to hold their appointment, and by what authority they are
to be granted. It seems to me the process of their discharge, at
least, should be summary, and entirely divested of the legal forms of
arrest, court-martial, &c. The slightest appearance of intemperance,
neglect, carelessness, &c, should be sufficient cause for their certain

554 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

dismissal from the service. With whom is to rest the authority to
judge of these delinquencies, and the necessity of the infliction of
the penalty, will, of course, be determined on in time, and made
known to the persons on receiving the appointment.

' ' I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant,

"M C. Perbt.
"To the Commissioners of the Navy, Washington, D. 0."

This letter is important in our history as a corps, being the earl-
iest official document containing so much as a hint of the necessity
of organizing a permanent corps of naval engineers.

The Board of Naval Commmissioners agreed to Captain Perry's
recommendations as to wages for engineers and firemen, although
remarking that for the latter the pay appeared high in addition to
the ration, and referred the matter to the Department with various
recommendations. The Department let the matter rest for more than
a month, 'until, about the end of October, Captain Perry reported
the vessel ready for steam, and called attention to the fact that no
authority existed for the employment of assistant engineers, adding
that their services were much needed. The suggestions made by the
Board of Navy Commissioners on September 15 were promulgated
as the regulations of the Department governing the appointment of
" these descriptions of persons for the steamer." The recommen-
dations of the Board, which became the Department's regulation, is
another important document in the history of the engineer corps, and
is here given:

" Upon the subject of appointments of the engineers, etc., the
Board respectfully suggest the expediency of allowing, for the pres-
ent, the commandant to nominate the assistant engineers, after col-
lecting, as far as practicable, proofs or certificates of their character
and qualifications, sabject to the confirmation of the commander of
the station, when time will allow of an immediate reference; in other
cases, to be made by the commander of the vessel.

"That they receive a letter of appointment, revocable at any
time by the commander of the station upon complaints of intemper-
ance, incapacity, insubordination, negligence, or other misconduct,
by the commander of the vessel, if proved to the satisfaction of such
commanding officer of the station.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 25

"The commander of the vessel, of course, to have the power
of suspending them from duty, if he deems it necessary.

"The engineers to sign some proper instrument, which will legally
render them liable to the laws for the government of the navy, but
to be exempt from corporal punishment; which instrument is to be
transmitted to the Secretary of the Navy, with the letter accepting
their appointment.

" The firemen and coal-heavers to sign the shipping articles and
be removable at the pleasure of the commander of the vessel, as
authorized for the reduction and punishment of petty officers and
seamen."

This order was dated October 31, 1837, and was carried into
effect by the appointment of John Faron, Jr., and Nelson Burt as
first assistant engineers on November 15, and of J. C. limes and
Hiram Sanford as second assistants on November 21. These ap-
pointments were made by Captain Perry himself, as shown by the
following extract from a report made December 16 on the steam
trial of the Fulton:

" The assistant engineers appointed by me promise to be highly
industrious and useful men. I have been much pleased with their
conduct, and, so far as I am yet capable of judging, consider them
well acquainted with their duty; of one thing I am certain, that if
the vessel is to be employed at all, sixteen, instead of eight firemen
will be indispensably necessary."

On November 1 the engines of the Fulton were put in motion
for the first time and the result was highly satisfactory; "twelve inches
of steam was produced in less than an hour by chips from the yard, "
to quote from Captain Perry's report. During the ensuing winter
the Fulton was thoroughly tried in free route and proved herself a
success as a steamer, although certain peculiarities in construction
precluded her use as a cruiser for general sea purposes: in fact she
was not built for such service, the primary idea in her construction
being to provide a harbor-defense vessel to take the place of the first
Fulton, or Demologos.

Captain Perry reported in February that her usual speed at a
medium pressure of steam and twenty revolutions per minute of the
engines had been proved to be about twelve knots, and that her

THE STEAM KAVY OF THE UNITED 8TATES.

maximum speed, at a forced pressure, might be extended to fifteen
knots. He spoke highly of her efficiency as an armed vessel, in
comparision with vessels of war not propelled by steam, and gave
an opinion resulting from his observations that " there is not the least
doubt that sea steamers of 1,400 or 1,500 tons can be constructed and
equipped to cruise at sea, for limited periods (say twenty days,) as
efficient vessels of war, to be as safe from the disasters of the sea as
the finest frigate, and at an expense considerably less. " Lieutenant
Lynch, attached to the vessel, in a written report stated that ' ' For
harbor and coast defense, in light winds and calms, with a battery
of long 64-pounders, the Fulton, with slight alterations, would be
perfectly efficient, and more useful than any number of armed ships
not propelled by steam," and the opinions of the other officers, all
whom had to make reports to Captain Perry, generally agreed to this.
In Chief Engineer Haswell's report we find the following carefully
itemized statement of current expenses of running the engines, which
is both curious and interesting at this date:

Engines, 3 quarts of oil, at 18fc $0.56

Engines and boilers, 5 pounds of tallow, at 10c 50

Engines, 2£ pounds of hemp, at 12c 30

2 pounds of spun yarn, at 12c 24

i pound of black lead, at 10c 10

Paints and brushes 75

Boilers, Indian meal 24

Engines and boilers, white lead, 2 pounds at 12c 24

Lamps and lanterns 10

Shovels, brooms, and axes 23

Tools 50

For twelve hours $3. 66

Off one-sixth per diem of ten

hours 61

$3.05

More light on the operation of the machinery is given by the
synopsis of the engine-room log, here following in the form of the
engineer's weekly report for one of the weeks that the vessel was
under steam a considerable part of the time:

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

When the Fulton was put in commission with a regular com-
plement of officers and men on board, the question of what to do
with the engineers as to their quarters and messing arrangements
came up, and was a difficult one to settle, because there were no pre-
cedents to follow and no regulations regarding the new class of offi-
cials. Fortunately for Mr. Haswell, and for those who came after
him as well, his social status was such, that his place among the offi-
cers was obviously in the ward room, and to that part of the ship he
was assigned irrespective of the fact that he held no commission and
no rank in the service. The precedent thus established of assigning
the chief engineer to the ward-room operated to the benefit of other
chief engineers in the following years, until, in 1842, the quarters
for chief engineers on board ship were specified by law to be in the
ward-room. The assistant engineers of the Fulton were berthed and
messed with the warrant officers.

In April, 1838, the Fulton visited Norfolk and Washington and
was an object of general attention, especially at the national capitol.
In September of the same year, in consequence of a discussion that
was related to the Secretary of the Navy, she was ordered back to

-pxq

= D

KETURN DBOP-FLTJB BOII.KBS, V. S. S. FULTON (3d), 1850.

Diameter of shells 10 feet, 6 inches. Length, 22 feet.
Length of furnace, 7 feet. Height of furnace 6 feet, 3 inches.
Diameter of flues, two upper rows, 16 inches. Lower row, 25 inches.
Diameter of steam drum, 7 ft, 3 in. Diameter of smoke pipe, 5 ft. 3 in.

New York for the express purpose of testing her speed with that of
the British steamer Cheat Western, running between New York and
Liverpool. The Fulton followed the latter vessel to sea on the oc-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

casion of her regular departure, ranged up alongside and passed her
rapidly. After being employed in active service along the Atlantic
coast of the United States until 1842, the Fulton was laid up in or-
dinary at the New York navy yard, where she remained a neglected
and useless hulk until 1851. In the latter year the machinery was
entirely replaced by a different type, designed under the direction of
Mr. Charles B. Stuart, then engineer-in-chief of the navy. There
was a single inclined engine mounted on a wooden frame, the cylin
der being fifty inches in diameter and ten feet four inches stroke,
provided with a Sickel's cut-off. The old copper boilers were re-
placed with two wrought iron ones of the double-return, drop-flue
variety, ten feet six inches in diameter and twenty-two feet long.
Feathering paddle wheels were substituted for the original radial
wheels. The shaft of this engine was of wrought iron.

The hull was hauled on the ways and thoroughly repaired, the
upper deck and high bulwarks being removed and the interior ar-
rangements were completely changed because of the altered arrange-
ment of the machinery, but the original lines of the ship were not
disturbed. The rig was changed to a two-masted fore-topsail
schooner. A trial trip was run January 1, 1852, in New York har-
bor, seventy-one and one-half miles being run under steam between ■
various intervals of stopping, sailing, backing, etc., which interrup-
tions completely destroy the results as a steam trial. The report of
this trial gives the average steam pressure as twenty-five pounds;
average vacuum, twenty six inches; average revolutions, twenty-
one, and average speed, 13.34 miles per hour. For a period of
twenty-one minutes at the end of the performance, with thirty pounds
of steam and twenty-three revolutions, the distance run is given as
seven miles, or at the rate of twenty miles per hour. Unfortunately
the report does not state the condition of the wind and tide at that
period, so we do not know whether the high speed was due entirely
to the engines or not. It is a matter of record, however, that the
vessel had a reputation in the service as a very fast sieamer. She
was employed on general cruising duty in the home squadron and
West Indies for several years, was one of the vessels of the Paraguay
expedition in 1858, and in 1861 was in ordinary at the Pensacola
navy yard.

The Pensacola yard was surrendered to the Confederates Jan-

30 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

nary 10, 1861, and the Fulton thus fell into their hands ; she was
then in very bad condition, having sometime previously been strand-
ed and nearly wrecked near Fensacola, but her captors hauled her
on the building-ways and began repairing her. May 9, 1862, mil-
itary operations compelled the Confederates to abandon the yard,
they burning everything behind them. An account of this destruc-
tion is given in Mr. J. T. Scharf's History of the Confederate
States Navy, in which account appears the last historical reference
to this famous old steamer — "The Fulton, that was on the stocks
in the navy yard, was burned."

This story of the old Fulton would be incomplete without a
special reference to the invaluable services rendered by Captain M.
C. Perry to the steam navy which her example called into life, his
able championship of engines and engineers in connection with her
having properly given him a place in our naval history as the father
of the American steam navy. Matthew C. Perry was a younger
brother of that other Perry who overcame the British on Lake Erie
in 1813, which event is so nearly synonymous in the public mind
with the name of Perry that the deeds of the younger brother, some
of which were of more lasting importance than the mere winning of
a battle, have been dimmed by contrast. Captain Perry's services
to the naval engineer corps in connection with his command of the
Fulton were both important and lasting, and can best be told by
quoting from his biography, written by a distinguished civilian, Rev-
erend Wm. E. Griffis, another of whose books, " The Mikado's
Empire," has been a source of instruction and pleasure to hundreds
of our naval officers of the present time who have had the privilege
of seeing the shores of beautiful Japan:

" Perry took command of the Fulton October 4th, 1837, when
the smoke-pipes were up, and the engines ready for an early trial.
His work meant more than to hasten forward the completion of the
new steam battery. He was practically to organize an entirely new
branch of naval economy. There were in the marine war service of
the United States absolutely no precedents to guide him.

"Again he had to be 'an educator of the navy.' To show how
far the work was left to him, and was his own creation, we may
state that no authority had been given and no steps taken to secure
firemen, assistant engineers, or coal heavers. The details duties

TTIE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 31

qualifications, wages, and status in the navy of the whole engineer
corps fell upon Perry to settle. He wrote for authority to appoint
first and second-class engineers. He proposed that $25 to f 30 a
month, and one ration, should be given as pay to firemen, and that
they should be good mechanics familiar with machinery, the use of
stops, cocks, gauges, and the paraphernalia of iron and brass so
novel on a man-of-war.

"Knowing that failure in the initiative of the experimental
steam service might prejudice the public, and especially the incred-
ulous and sneering old salts who had no faith in the new fangled
ideas, he requested that midshipmen for the Fulton, should be first
trained in seamanship prior to their steamer life. He was also
especially particular about the moral and personal character of the
'line' officers who were first to live in contact with a new and strange
kind of 'staff. ' It is difficult in this age of war-steamers, when a
sailing man-of-war or even a paddle-wheel steamer is a curiosity, to
realize the jealousy felt by sailors of the old school towards the
un-naval men of gauges and stop-cocks. They foresaw only too
clearly that steam was to steal away the poetry of the sea, turn the
sailor into a coal heaver, and the ship into a machine.

"Perry demanded in his line officers breadth of view sufficient
to grasp the new order of things. They must see in the men of
screws and levers equality of courage as well as of utility. They
must be of the co-operative cast of mind and disposition. From the
very first, he foresaw that jealousy amounting almost to animosity
would spring up between the line and staff officers, between the deck
and the hold, and he determined to reduce it to a minimum. The
new middle term between courage and cannon was caloric. He
would provide precedents to act as anti-friction buffers so as to
secure a maximum of harmony.

"That was Matthew Perry — ever magnifying his office and
profession. He believed that responsibility helped vastly to make
the man. He suggested that engineers take the oath, and from
first to last be held to those sanctions and to that discipline, which
would create among them the esprit so excellent in the line officers. "

CHAPTER III.

"So shalt thou instant reach the realm assigned,
In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind;

Though clouds and darkness veiled the encumbered sky,
Fearless, through darkness and through clouds they fly."

Alexajsdeb Pope, translation of the Odyssey.

The Enginbbb— The Mississippi and Missouri — Establishment of the Engineei
Corps by Act of Congress— Destruction of the Missouri— Career of the
Mississippi— Steamers Transferred to the Navy from the War Depart-
ment—The MicmeAW.

BEFORE the completion of the Fulton, a single steam vessel ap-
peared in the navy in the form of a small paddle-wheel tug-
boat of 142 tons, which was bought in Baltimore in 1836 for $18,-
997, and was named the Engvne&r. This boat had a single beam
engine of about one hundred horse-power, and one iron flue boiler:
the vessel was used as a tug and dispatch boat about the Norfolk
navy yard for a Dumber of years, and also did some service on the
southern coast as a surveying vessel. Although not a war ves-
sel in any sense, this craft is here referred to because she was for a
short time the only steamer in the navy, and was a familiar object
to the early members of the engineer corps, many of whom were as-
signed to her for temporary service while getting broken in to the
rules of the navy.

In 1839 two boards of officials were convened in Washington
to consider the method of carrying out the provisions of an act of
Congress authorizing the construction of two or more steam vessels
of war. One of these boards was composed of commodores, and was
directed to " consider and decide upon the qualities and power which
it was desirable to secure in the vessels:" the other was composed
of naval constructors and one engineer, Mr. Haswell being the latter,
with instructions to scrutinize the report of the commodores, and
determine whether the qualities and powers recommended by them
could be combined practically, and if so, to prepare the details for
carrying them out. The result of this labor set in process of con-
struction two large side-wheel frigates named the Mississippi and

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 35

Missouri, precisely alike in all respects, except the type of engines.
It is not to be supposed that the inauguration of the policy of build-
ing steam vessels for the navy was unattended with skepticism and
opposition; like the application of all great scientific discoveries, the
introduction of steam power was combatted and misunderstood, abroad
as well as in our own country. The logic, if it may be so called, of
the opposition is well indicated by the vehement utterance of Lord
Napier in the British House of Commons in a speech fiercely antag-
onistic to the building of steamers of war: "Mr. Speaker, when
we enter Her Majesty's naval service and face the chances of war,
we go prepared to be hacked in pieces by cutlasses, to be riddled
with bullets, or to be blown to bits by shot and shell; but, Mr.
Speaker, we do not go prepared to be idled alive.''''

The principal data common to both the Mississippi and Missouri
were the following:

Length over all 229 feet.

Beam 40 feet.

Mean draft 19 feet.

Displacement at mean draft 3,220 tons.

The vessels were bark-rigged, spreading 19,000 square feet of
canvas in plain sails to top-gallant sails inclusive. Each vessel had
three copper boilers of the double return ascending flue variety,
with three furnaces and eighty square feet of grate surface in each
boiler; the heating surface of each boiler was 2,000 square feet, or
exactly twenty-five times the grate surface. The paddle-wheels
were twenty-eight feet in diameter and eleven feet broad. The bat-
tery of each vessel consisted of two X-inch and eight VHI-inch
shell guns. The Mississippi had two side-lever engines with cylin-
ders seventy-five inches in diameter and seven feet stroke, and the
Missouri had two inclined direct-acting engines with cylinders sixty-
two and one-half inches diameter and ten feet stroke: the cubical
contents of the cylinders of the two vessels were practically the same,
a difference being made in the length of the stroke to test the relative
merits of long and short stroke engines.

The hulls were of wood, that of the Mississippi being con-
structed at the navy yard, Philadelphia, and that of the Missouri at
the New York navy yard. The Mississippi's machinery was built

86 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

by Merrick and Towne in the city of Philadelphia, and that for the
Missouri by the West Point Foundry Association at their works at
Cold Spring, New York. The machinery for both vessels was de-
signed by Mr. Charles W. Copeland, referred to in a previous chap-
ter as the superintending engineer of the West Point Foundry Asso-
ciation at the time the engines for the Milton were built. He had
been employed as a consulting engineer for the Board of Navy Com-
missioners, and, with the title of Principal Engineer, held that posi-
tion for several years, during which time he did much excellent
work in designing machinery for the new steam navy, although he
never was in the naval service in the sense of holding a commission
as an officer or being amenable to military law and discipline.

In the fall of 1839, when the work of building these two ves-
sels began, Mr. Haswell was detached from the Fulton and assigned
to duty with Mr. Copeland in New York to prepare drawings of
machinery for both vessels. It was in the course of this work that
Mr. Haswell laid down the boilers of both the new vessels in full
size, designed and determined the dimensions of each plate, and
thus for the first time in the history of boiler manufacture were the
plates rolled and trimmed to measure. In January, 1840, Mr.
Faron, the senior engineer of the Fulton, was promoted to be a
chief engineer, detached from the Fulton and detailed to superin-
tend the building of the Mississippi's engines in Philadelphia, his
place on the Fulton being filled by Mr. Andrew Hebard, who was
appointed chief engineer from civil life. Shortly afterward Mr.
Haswell was named as superintendent of the engines building for
the Missouri.

The two frigates were completed early in 1842, and a number
of engineers were appointed in the manner indicated by the Depart-
ment's regulation on the subject, quoted in a former chapter. A re-
markable fact in connection with the building of these two ships is the
close parallelism of their cost, although they were built in different
cities, and had engines radically different in details of construction:
in 1853 the Navy Department, in obedience to a resolution of the
House of Kepresentatives, informed Congress that the actual cost of
the Mississippi to the time of her first sailing, exclusive of ordnance,
was 1569,670.70, and of the Missouri, $568,806. Mr. Faron was
the first chief engineer of the Mississippi, and Mr. Hebard of the

•*«*,

MR. CHARLES W. COPBLAND,

Principal Engineer, U. S. Navy. Designer of the machinery of the
Mississippi, Missouri, etc.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 39

Missouri, he being temporarily assigned to that vessel while Mr.
Haswell was engaged with Mr. Gopeland on the designs of a new
steamer — the Michigan. This latter work was completed in Octo-
ber, 1842, when Mr. Haswell returned to the Missouri as her chief
engineer.

After the appointments for the two new frigates were made
there were twenty engineers in the service, with prospects for the
need of many more in the near future, as the policy of building war
steamers was so well established that there was no longer any hope
for success on the part of the conservative element whieh had strug-
gled against the new order of things so stubbornly. The engineers
were very much dissatisfied with various anomalies and evils inci-
dent to their connection with the navy, and began an agitation
which speedily resulted in the legal establishment of the engineer
corps as a permanent part of the naval organization. Their pay did
not compare favorably with the wages of competent engineers in
civil employment, and consequently was unsatisfactory to them; the
irregular manner in which they were appointed, and their uncertain
tenure of office, were also grievances, and early in the year with
which we are now dealing an incident occurred which so provoked
the engineers that they felt constrained to lay their troubles before
Congress. This incident was the appointment as an engineer in the
navy of a young man who made no pretense to knowledge of engi-
neering, he being the protege of a powerfnl politician and simply
wanted a salaried position under the Government, wifchont bothering
himself as to what the duties of that position might be. That the
engineers then in the service resented this appointment is good
proof that there already existed among them that pride in their
calling and the esprit de corps that have for so long kept them united
and made continuous progress possible in the midst of many dis-
couragements.

Mr. Haswell, as the senior and most prominent of the engineers,
took the matter in charge, and appealed to Congress for a redress of
grievances. Mr. Gilbert L. Thompson, a prominent politician and
man about town in Washington in those days, took up Mr. Haswell' s
cause and gave him much assistance, although his motives were not
entirely philanthropic, as we shall presently see. The result of this
effort was an act of Congress regulating the appointment aad pay of

40 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

engineers in the navy, which act was approved Angast 81, 1842,
and read in full as follows:

Section 1. Be it moated, etc.. That the Secretary of the Navy shall appoint
the requisite number of chief engineers and assistant engineers, not to exceed one
chief engineer, two first assistant, two second assistant, and three third assistant
engineers for each steamship of war, for the naval service of the United States, who
shall be paid, when in actual service, as follows :

To the chief engineer, fifteen hundred dollars per annum and one ration per
day ; to the first assistant engineer, nine hundred dollars per annum and one ration
per day ; to the second assistant engineer, seven hundred dollars per annum and one
ration per day ; to the third assistant engineer, five hundred dollars per annum and
one ration per day. The chief engineer shall be entitled to mess in the wardroom of
ships of war, and in all cases of prize-money he shall share as a lieutenant ; the first
assistant engineer shall share as a lieutenant of marines ; the second assistant engin-
eer shall share as a midshipman ; the third assistant engineer shall share as the
forward officers ; but neither the chief nor the assistant engineers shall hold any
other rank titan as engineers.

Sac. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy shall be
authorized to enlist and employ the requisite number of firemen, who shall receive,
each, thirty dollars per month and one ration per day ; and the requisite number of
coal-heavers, who shall receive, each, eighteen dollars per month and one ration per
day ; and the said firemen and coal-heavers shall in all cases of prize-money share as

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said chief engineer and the assist-
ant engineers when waiting orders shall be paid as follows : to the chief engineer,
twelve hundred dollars per annum ; to the first assistant engineer, seven hundred
dollars per annum ; to the second assistant engineer, five hundred dollars per annum;
to the third assistant engineer, three hundred and fifty dollars per annum.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy shall
appoint a skillful and scientific engineer-in-chief, who shall receive for his services
the sum of three thousand dollars per annum, and shall perform such duties as the
Secretary of the Navy shall require of hhn touching that branch of the service.

Sec. 5. And be U further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy shall be
authorized te prescribe a uniform for the said chief engineers and assistant engineers,
and to make all necessary rules and regulations for the proper arrangement and
government of the corps of engineers and assistant engineers not inconsistent with
the Constitution and laws of the United States. The said engineers and assistant
engineers shall be in all respects subject to the laws, rules, and regulations of the
naval service in like manner with other officers of the service.

Sec. 6. And be « further enacted, That the said chief engineers shall be
appointed by commission, and the assistant engineers shall be appointed by warrant
from the Secretary of the Navy, in such form as he may prescribe.

Sec. 7. And be U further enacted. That the Secretary of the Navy be and he is
hereby authorized to establish, at such places as he may deem necessary, suitable
depots of coal or other fuel for the supply of steam ships of war.

The day following the approval of this act Mr. Gilbert L.

Thompson w&s appointed engineer-in-chief of the navy ; this to the

TH£ STEAM NAVY O* THE UNITED STATES. 41

great amazement and disgust of Mr. Haswell, who had seen in him
only a benevolent and influential gentleman disposed to devote his
time to the support of the cause simply because it was right.
Benevolent gentlemen with unlimited time and influence to expend
in the righting of wrongs abound in the harmless works of fiction
distributed by the Iract societies, but in real life they are extremely
rare. Of Mr. Gilbert L. Thompson one of his contemporaries has
written the author : " Mr. Thompson was a lawyer, and know ab-
solutely nothing of engineering. He was a gentleman, a scholar, a
diplomatist, and a son of a previous Secretary of the Navy ; but
his engineering was purely nominal, and confined to a very prompt
and efficient drawing of his salary."

In fhe spring of 1843 }he Missoyrj, affpr a prolonged cruise in
the Gulf of Mexico, was ordered to Washington, where Mr. Thomp-
son caused her smoke-pipe, seven feet in diameter, to be removed
and replaced with two pipes, each three feet six inches in diameter.
The two pipes diverged oat towards the sides and connected with
the wheel-houses with the idea that the centrifugal action pf the
wheels would induce a strong draught by forcing air up through the
pipes. In this connection it must be known that the boiler room of
the Missouri was abaft the engines and the wheels consequently
were forward of the smoke-pipes, which arrangement would have
seriously interfered with the operation of the forced draught scheme
in a head wind, even if there had been any merit in it under other
conditions. Mr. Haswell, the chief engineer of the Missouri, pro-
tested against the design and declared it impracticable, but his pro-
fessional opinion was unheeded. Engineer-in-Ohief Thompson was
so confident of success that he had the members pf the Cabinet in-
vited on board to witness the trial of his discovery, but they attended
a funereal feast, for the scheme failed most dismally in operation. A
scapegoat being necessary, Mr. Haswell was selected and suspended
from doty because be had "not used sufficiently inflammable ma-
terial in lighting the fires," although it is not apparent at this late
date just what the manner of lighting fires would have to do with
any subsequent performance with steam raised. Mr. Haswell was
later offered to be restored to duty and proceed with the ship to the
Mediterranean, where she had been ordered, on condition that be

42 THE STEAM ft A VY OF THE UNITED STATES.

would apologize to the captain for hie error ffi, bat this he declined
to do, notwithstanding the requests of his messmates, saying that he
would "rather suffer injustice from another than be unjnst to him-
self." Whereupon he was detached from the vessel and Chief
Engineer Faron ordered to take his place.

The experiment, above related, definitely established the fact
that Mr. Thompson was not an engineer, whatever ability he might
have in other directions, and his opinions were no longer sought in
the councils of the Navy Department. After leaving the Missouri,
Mr. Haswell was employed in designing machinery for four Revenue
cutters, and in December was completely vindicated for his affair on
the Missowri by being ordered to the Navy Department and assigned
to the duties of engineer-in-chief ; October 3 of the following year
(1844) Mr. Thompson's name was dropped from the list and Mr.
Haswell was regularly appointed engineer-in-chief of the navy.

The smoke-pipe of the Missouri was restored to its original
form and the vessel proceeded to the Mediterranean, arriving at
Gibraltar on the 25th of August after a voyage of nineteen days
from the Capes of the Ghesapeake. The next day, August 26,
1843, the engineer's yeoman broke a demijohn of spirits of tur-
pentine in the store-room, which ignited and started a fire that
spread so rapidly that all hope of saving the vessel had to be aban-
doned, and the crew barely escaped with their lives. In a few
hours this splendid vessel was reduced to a blackened and sinking
hulk. Her commander, Captain J. T. Newton, and Chief Engineer
John Faron, Jr. , were tried by court-martial upon their return home
and were sentenced to suspension from duty, the former for a period
of two years, and the latter for one year, which sentences were re-
mitted after the captain had served four months and the chief
engineer eight months. Congress appropriated sixty thousand dol-
lars later to be expended in removing the sunken wreck from Gib-
raltar harbor. When chief engineer of the Missouri the year
before she burned, Mr. Haswell had asked for a leaden tank in
which to keep the spirits of turpentine, but the requisition was
refused.

The Mississippi had a long and famous career, but eventually
met a far more tragic fate than did her sister ship. She is said to
have been a beautiful vessel, and from having had a succession of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

able commanders and common-sense officers in full accord with each
other, she won the enviable reputation of being a "happy ship,"
and with this reputation was the most popular and best known of all
the steamers of the old navy. She was the flagship of Commodore
M. C. Perry in the Mexican War, and also his flagship in the expe-
dition to Japan • she carried the famous Hungarian exile, Kossuth,
from Turkey to France, and brought a number of his fellow-exiles
to the United States. As the flagship of Flag Officer Josiah Tatnall
in 1859 she was present at the engagement in the Pei lio river,

SIDE LEVEK ENGINE, U. S. 8. MISSISSIPPI.

where the " blood is thicker than water," sentiment is said to have
originated, and at the outbreak of the Civil War was one of the first
vessels to go to the front. She had twice circumnavigated the globe,
and it was said of her, probably truly, that she had cruised more
miles under steam than any war vessel of her time. Eventually a
combination of circumstances, so strange that their suggestion during
her palmy days would have been scouted as the climax of absurdity,
brought this noble frigate with hostile intent into the great river

14 THE STEAM NAVY OP TBE (INITED STATES.

■whose name she had so long and so worthily carried about the
world, and there one dark night in a storm of shot and shell, in lire
and smoke, she sank to her long rest, a coffin for many of her crew,
on the bosom of her false sod-mother.

"While the Mississippi and Missouri were being built, the Gov-
ernment was bringing to an end a long and bloody war with the
Seminole Indians of Florida. It had been decided to remove this
tribe from its lands and deport it to the wilds beyond the western
frontiers, but when efforts were made to carry the decision into effect
the savages declined to be moved, they viewing the matter in the
same light that we may imagine the present inhabitants of Florida
would regard a similar project to eject them from their homes and
belongings. Under their great chief, Osceola, the Seminoles took
up arms and a long and devastating war followed, costing the United
States ten million dollars and nearly fifteen hundred lives. The re-
sult was the same as of all other weary struggles on this continent of
the original possessors of the soil against the encroachments of the
dominant race, and the aborigines went to the wall. The nature of
the country in which the struggle took place made the employment
of small steamers for the transportation of men and war material
absolutely necessary, and the War Department accordingly found
itself with a number of such vessels on its hands when the Seminole
War was over, three of which were disposed of by transfer to the
Navy Department.

The steamers thus added to the navy establishment were the
General Taylor, of 152 tons; the Colonel Harney, of 300 tons, and
the Poinsett, of 250 tons. They were employed for a few years on
the Florida waters to prevent the spoliation of Government live oak
preserves, one or two naval engineers being usually attached to
each. The Poinsett was sold in 1845 for $5,000, and the Harney
was returned to the War Department in 1846. The General Taylor,
after being the tender at the Pensacola navy yard for several years,
was sold in 1852 for $3,000.

In 1841 and 1842 plans were prepared for the paddle-wheel
steamer Michigan, the hull being designed by Naval Constructor
Samuel Hartt, and the engines and boilers by Mr. C. W. Copelaud.
There were two inclined direct acting condensing engines, placed
side by side, the cylinders being 36 inches in diameter and eight

U. S S. MICHIGAN.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. V

feet Btroke; these engines are now, more than fifty years after the
Michigan was first commissioned, still in the vessel and in excellent
working order. The two original return-fine iron boilers lasted
nearly fifty years, they having been replaced as recently as the
winter of 1892-93. The engines and boilers were built by Stack-
house & Tomlinson in Pittsburgh, Pa. The hull was built of iron,
the plates, frames and other iron material being all prepared in
Pittsburgh ready for assembling and then transported overland to
Erie, Pa. , where the vessel was put together and launched in 1843,
making her first cruise on the Great Lakes in 1844. She was the
first iron vessel afloat on those waters, and is still in active service,
a striking illustration of the difference between fresh and salt water
as agents for the deterioration of iron vessels. It should be men-
tioned, however, that the extraordinary longevity of the Michigan
is partly due to the fact that she has to lie up in a winter harbor for
about six months each year, and thus the chances for her untimely
destruction by the usual perils of the sea have been reduced one-
half. The first commander of the Michigan was William Inman,
and her first chief engineer Andrew Hebard.

CHAPTER IV.

•* A little learning is a dangerous thing."

Alexander Pops.

Experiments with the *' Hunter Wheel"— The Uhiojt— The Watkb Witch— The
Aulbbitakt — The Stevens Battery.

TH~R work of the engineers in designing and building machinery
for the new naval steamers, while it exeited suspicion and op-
position from some who were well satisfied with the navy as it was,
attracted a certain amount of admiration from others and it was not
long before amateur imitators of their work sprung up in the ser-
vice. Early in 1842, Lieutenant W. W. Hunter of the navy se-
cured a patent for a submerged wheel, claiming a great improve-
ment over the ordinary side wheels in propelling vessels. Experi-
ments were made on the old canal in Washington with a small boat
named the Germ, fitted with Hunter's wheels, and the results ob-
tamed presented to the Navy Department in such a favorable light
that it was determined to build a war-steamer to test the invention
on a large scale.

He Hunter wheel consisted essentially of a dram with the pad-
dles projecting from its surface like the teeth of a large gear wheel
or pinion; the axis of the wheel was placed vertically and the wheel
so located in the vessel, below the water line, that as it revolved the
paddles, when at right angles to the keel, would project their whole
width from the side of the ship through a suitable aperture. To
keep the water from flowing into the ship through this opening the
drum was eased inside the ship with a box or coffer-dam made to fit
as closely as safety permitted, in practice a clearance of about two
inches on all sides being allowed. A wheel was fitted on each side
of the ship. In operation it will be observed that this wheel would
act on the water on precisely the same principle as that governing
the ordinary side wheel, but unlike the latter its idle side, instead of
revolving through the air. had to do work all the time by sweeping
around the water inside the casing. It had an advantage in dispens-
ing with the large wheel-houses which were exposed to shot and of-
fered much resistance to the wind, beside blocking space belonging

THE 3TBAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

to broadside gum, bat this was practically offset by the disadvantage
of having so much space in the hold occupied by the drum cases,
while the enormous loss of work involved in constantly churning the
water inside the cases, appeared at once to every engineer and me-
chanic to be a fatal defect in the device.

Sketch showing section of vessel and arrangement of Hunter's wheels.
This is a reproduction of a drawing submitted by Lieut. Hunter to the Navy De-
partment under date of Nov. 29, 1843, and is particularly interesting from the fact
that It shows the principle of the protective or shield deck, believed by many to
be a recent invention. None of Hunter's vessels had such a deck as built. This
drawing was first published in the annual report of the secretary of the navy,
about 1844.

However, the Navy Department ordered the building of a ves-
sel on Mr. Hunter's plans and the work was carried out at the Nor-
folk navy yard in 1842. The vessel, named the Union, was 185
feet long, 33 feet beam, and displaced 900 tons on a draft of eleven
feet The rig was that of a three-masted topsail schooner, and the
battery consisted of four 68-pounder guns. The engines were built
at the Washington navy yard according to Mr. Hunter's ideas and
consisted of a horizontal non-condensing engine for each wheel, the
cylinders being twenty-eight inches in diameter and four feet stroke.
There were three iron tubular boilers, eighteen feet long and six feet
six inches in diameter, they being of the usual commercial pattern for

50 JBE STBAM HAW OS1 *HE TOTTED STATES

land service. The propelling wheels were fourteen feet in diameter,
each fitted with twenty paddles four feet long and ten inches wide.

The Union was completed at the end of 1842 and Mr. William
P. Williamson, who had assisted Mr. Hunter in his experiments
with the Gwm, was appointed a chief engineer in the nary and
ordered to the new vessel. In 1843 she was engaged in experi-
mental cruising about the coast, under command of Lieutenant Hun-
ter, but was unable to develop a better average than five knots per
hour, while the slip or lost work of the wheels in pumping water
through the drum cases, was from fifty to seventy per cent. The
boilers, carrying nearly one hundred pounds of steam for the high-
pressure engines, rapidly accumulated scale causing an equally rapid
deterioration, they being intended only for land service, were un-
provided with means or accessibility for scaling, and in about a year
new boilers fit for use at sea were supplied from designs of Chief
Engineer Haswell, but the wheels continued to waste their energy
by acting as centrifugal pumps instead of propelling the vessel. An
average of five knots on a daily expenditure of eighteen tons of coal
was the best that could be done with the ship. With a favorable
wind she made on some occasions nine and ten knots for short peri-
ods, and Lieutenant Hunter reported one performance of about
twelve knots sustained for five hours with a moderate breeze. In
1846 it was concluded the engines were not powerful enough, so
they were removed and replaced with a pair of condensing engines,
four feet stroke and forty inches diameter of cylinders; at the same
time the boilers were thoroughly repaired and the wheels so altered
that they had ten paddles each instead of twenty, the new paddles be-
ing four feet long and two feet wide; all this failed to increase the
efficiency of the wheels and the Union was finally, in 1848, put to
nse as a receiving ship at the Philadelphia navy yard. The ma-
chinery was removed at this time and sold for $3,840. The total
cost of this experiment was:

Hull, to period of first sailing $107,065.67

Engines and dependencies, do 51,062.93

Repairs at various times 68,549.13

Total..., $226,677.78

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

While the troubles of the "Hunter wheel " in the Union werft
progressing, similar experience was being gained with a small iron
steamer named the Water Witch. This vessel was built at the
Washington navy yard in 1843 from Lieutenant Hunter's plans and
was intended for a steam water tank to supply the vessels at the
Norfolk station, but when completed it was discovered that she could
not go through the locks of the Dismal Swamp canal, which had to
be done in order to get at the water supply, so she was fitted for a
harbor vessel and tug. Her length was 100 feet and beam 21 feet;
the machinery consisted of two non-condensing engines with cylin-
ders 22 inches in diameter and four feet stroke, driving two Hunter
wheels 16 feet in diameter. The maximum speed of this contri-
vance was six and one-half knots per hour, which was so unsatisfac-
tory considering her small size and great power, that the vessel was
condemned and taken to Philadelphia to be rebuilt. The experi-
ment with the Hunter wheel in this vessel stops at this point, but it
will be interesting to trace the subsequent career of the Water Witch
since she has been introduced.

IiOPBR'S PROPEMJUK.

A peculiarity claimed by the inventor for thir instrument was that it was
not a screw because "the propeller blades form an angle with the center line in
the same,"

52 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED CTATH3.

At Philadelphia the vessel was lengthened thirty feet and the
entire machinery removed, new machinery driving a " Loper " pro-
peller as an experiment being substituted. This also was pronoun-
ced unsatisfactory, although when tried by a committee of the Frank-
lin Institute in the Delaware river a speed of nearly nine knots was
obtained, and in 1847 an inclined condensing engine driving side
wheels, designed by Engineer-in-Chief Haswell, was substituted.
With this alteration the Water Witch was actively employed in the
Gulf during the Mexican War, but she had been the victim of so
much patch- work on an originally faulty model that it required much
labor to keep her in working order. In 1851 she sailed from Nor-
folk for a coastwise voyage and hopelessly broke down on the first
day out, after which exploit the machinery was removed and the hull
put to good practical use as a target for gunnery practice at Washing-
ton. The machinery being perfectly good, a new hull of wood,
somewhat larger than the old was built at the Washington yard in
1852 and a reasonably efficient little gunboat thus produced, still
bearing the original name. This new steamer was employed for a
number of years in the Rio de la Plata region of South America,
and later saw some very active service during the first three years
of the Civil War. June 3, 1864, she was captured in Ossabaw
Sound by a large boarding party of the enemy after a most desper-
ate struggle, in which her paymaster, Mr. Luther G. Billings, killed
Lieutenant Pelot the Confederate commander in a hand-to-hand fight,
and also saved the life of his own commanding officer by killing the
man who had cut him down and was about to despatch him. The
Union prisoners were taken to Savannah where they came under the
control of the Confederate officer commanding that naval station, and
who, singularly enough, was the same Hunter whose wheels had pro-
pelled the original Water Witch, he having resigned as a commander in
1861 and cast his fortunes with the Confederacy. The coincidence
does not seem to have appealed to his magnaminity to any great ex-
tent, for it is a matter of official record that he treated his prisoners
with considerable harshness.

To return to the experience of the Navy Department with the
Hunter wheel. The experiments with the Union and Water Witch
not being conclusive to Mr. Hunter and his supporters, the Depart-
ment was prevailed upon to try the invention on a larger scale than

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 53

before. On the 11th of July, 1843, the Secretary of the Navy, Mr.
A. P. Upshur, directed Captain Beverly Kennon, chief of the Bu-
reau of Construction, ' ' to take proper steps for building at Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, an iron steamer on plans to be submitted by
Lieutenant William W. Hunter," and a contract was accordingly
made with Joseph Tomlinson for an iron steamer on Hunter's plan,
together with engines, propellers, machinery, and all metal appurte-
nances, and Lieutenant Hunter was ordered by the Navy Depart-
ment to superintend the construction of the whole. Work on this
vessel, named the Alleghany, began in 1844 and was completed in
April, 1847, when she descended the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to
New Orleans, and thence steamed around to Norfolk, Ya.

The Alleghany was 185 feet long, 33 feet beam, 13 feet 6 inches
mean draft, at which her displacement was 1,020 tons. She was
bark-rigged and mounted originally four 8-inch Paixham guns,
weighing 10,000 pounds each, but this battery was reduced one-half
before the vessel sailed for a foreign cruise. There were two hori-
zontal condensing engines with cylinders of four feet stroke and 60
inches diameter, and two iron return-flue boilers containing 2,000
square feet of heating surface and 55 square feet of grate surface each.
The boilers were designed by Mr. Haswell, but the engines and hull
were Mr. Hunter's, modified by such suggestions as he collected
from the engineers and constructors. The horizontal propelling
wheels were 14 feet 8 inches outside diameter, fitted with eight pad-
dles each, the paddles being 3 feet 6 inches long and 2 feet 2 inches
wide.

On the trip from New Orleans to Norfolk the mean results of
her best steaming performances in smooth sea and calms gave a
speed of 4.9 knots on an expenditure of 2,000 pounds of coal per
hour. At Norfolk it was concluded to cut out every other paddle,
leaving only four in each wheel, and thus altered the Alleghany
sailed for Brazil, on which station and in the Mediterranean she was
employed until 1849, when she returned to the United States and
went on duty in the Gulf of Mexico until October of that year.
After the reduction of the paddles the average performance for
eighty-eight hours' steaming at sea in calm weather was 5.9 knots
per hour on an hourly consumption of 2,096 pounds of coal. The
mean results of eleven hundred and ninety hours under steam and

54 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

sail in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during her cruise were as
follows:

Mean pressure in boilers 11.77 pounds

Throttle One-half open

Cut-off 28. 100 of stroke

Coal consumption per hour 1, 940 pounds

Average revolution of wheels 27.2 per minute

Vacuum 25 inches

Speed of vessel per log 5,883 knots

Upon the return of the Alleghany from the Gulf of Mexico in
October, 1849, a survey was held on her by order of Commodore
C. W. Skinner, chief of the Bureau of Construction, etc. , the board
of survey being composed of Commander J. B. Montgomery, Naval
Constructor John Lenthal, Engineer-in- Chief C. H. Haswell, Chief
Engineer Wm. P. Williamson, and Mr. Wm. Ellis, the supervising
engineer of the Washington navy yard. Their report was a con-
demnation of the Hunter wheel, and a recommendation to substitute
a common side wheel, but as the engines could be adapted to a
screw propeller, and not to paddle wheels, a propeller was decided
upon, as the cost of new engines would thereby be saved. This re-
port definitely ended the career of Hunter's wheel and put a stop to
needless expenditure of public money. The entire history of these
experiments in the navy only confirms the correctness of an old adage
a ' ' shoemaker should stick to his last. ' '

The actual cost of the Alleghany to the period of her departure
from Pittsburg was:

Hull and fittings $118,635.27

Engines, boilers, fittings and connections 113,640.65

Patent right for Hunter's wheels 10,320.00

Total $242,595.92

In 1851-52 the Alleghany was rebuilt at the works of A. Me-
haffy & Co. , Portsmouth, Ya. , under the supervision of Chief En-
gineer Wm. P. Williamson, U. S. Navy. The iron hull, having
been constructed by an establishment accustomed to building vessels

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 55

for river service, had been found too weak for rough cruising in the
open sea, a number of frames having buckled inward, and an at-
tempt to remedy this was made by putting in additional frames and
braces. The openings in the side for the Hunter wheels were built
in, and a new stern post, suitable for the passage of a propeller shaft,
was substituted for the old one. The cylinders of the old engines,
which worked fore and aft, were used in the new engine to work
athwartBhip from the diagonally opposite corners of a new bed plate,
the connecting rods reaching backward from cross-tails, and many
of the minor parts of the old engines were likewise adapted in the
new structure. The alterations in the engines were regarded by en-
gineers at the time as very ingenious and were devised by Mr. B.
F. Isherwood, a young chief engineer who had entered the service
a few years previously. His arrangement of the cylinders with a
back-acting motion, will be recognized as the fore-runner of the type
so universally known some years later as the Isherwood engine.

Three new iron boilers, aggregating 5,500 square feet of heating
surface and 200 square feet of grate surface were provided; these were
of an English patent type known as ' ' Lamb and Summer ' ' boilers,
hitherto unknown in the United States, although used successfully
to some extent in England. They were installed in the Alleghany
at the instance of Mr. Charles B. Stuart, the engineer-in-chief at the
time, a royalty of forty-five cents per superficial foot of heating sur-
face being paid to the patentees. Pirsson's patent double- vacuum
condenser, to which was attached an evaporator for making up the
waste of fresh water, was fitted in this steamer at this time, which
was the first appearance in our naval service of that once popular
type of condenser.

The cost of all these alterations and additions was about $130,-
000, which, when added to the original cost of the vessel and about
$25,000 spent for repairs when she was in service, brings the total
cost up to nearly $400,000. ,

The screw propeller was made of cast iron, 13^ feet in diame-
ter, with four blades 3£ feet wide, having an expanding pitch from
27 to 33 feet. So curious was this propeller in comparison with the
modern pear-shaped development of the same instrument, that a re-
duced copy of the original drawing is shown on next page, the au-
thor feeling confident it will interest all his readers who ever had
any connection with the profession of marine engineering,

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The Alleghany was promised for the Perry expedition to Japan,
which fitted out in the summer of 1852, but so many vexatious de-
lays in her rebuilding occured that she was not ready for a steam
trial until nearly a year after Commodore Perry sailed for Japan in
the Mississippi. On trial the Alleghany proved to be an absolute
and unqualified failure; the hull was too weak to withstand the action
of the engines and this resulted in the engine bed plates breaking in
several places; the boilers were entirely inadequate for supplying the

SCREW-PJROPKIXER, V. S. S. AI.LKGHANY, 1852.

engines with steam, and things were at sixes and sevens generally.
Misfortunes with other ships will be referred to in due time, which
occurred during the same year and with the fiasco of the Alleghmy
caused public attention and much adverse criticism to be directed at
the management of the Navy Department. Mr. Secretary Dobbin,
in response to the popular clamor, organized a board of engineers
with instructions to institute a searching investigation, not only as to
the causes of the disasters, but also the officers or individuals who
were responsible. This board consisted of Engineer-in-Ohief D. B.
Martin (Mr. Stuart had resigned in June of that year); Chief Engi-
neer Henry Hunt, U. S. Navy, and Mr. C. W. Copeland. Mr. John
Lenthal, the chief constructor of the navy, was ordered to act with
the board and advise its members in matters relating to his specialty.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 57

In the case of the Alleghany, the report of this board was not
especially flattering to any who had been concerned in her building
and repair, amounting to a general condemnation of the vessel as be-
ing totally unsuited for naval purposes. The hull, originally built
for the reception of Hunter's wheels, was of a very peculiar form,
the cross section being shaped like an inverted bell; a shape mani-
festly inconsistent with structural strength to withstand outside pres-
sure, as well as a dangerous model for sailing, and it was found that
the additional frames put in were so placed and fastened as not to
add to the strength, while considerably increasing the weight. The
English boilers, originally adopted as experimental, had been radic-
ally altered after another set of the same boilers had failed in another
ship — the Princeton — and this fact was unfavorably dwelt upon by
the board, although there was no reason for believing that this type
would have been successful in the Alleghany after it had failed in
another case. Chief Engineer Isherwood was scored for not provid-
ing, in the design and strength of the engine frames, for the weak-
ness of the ship's bottom, and on his side he of course contended
that it was> his task to provide an engine only ; not a hull to support
it. With more experience, at a later period of his professonal ca-
reer, when it became his duty to provide power for a great number
of war vessels with all sorts of hulls, his engine frames were made
proof against any amount of racking they might receive, and then a
hue and cry was raised again, not because the engines were too light,
but because they were too heavy. Philosophers say that it is much
easier to be critical than correct, and the belief that the most suc-
cessful critics are those who have failed in other callings has long
since passed into a proverb.

The great fault in this affair appears, from a careful study of
the documents in the case, to have been the original attempt to make
a serviceable war vessel out of a structure that in shape and scant-
ling of material was utterly unfit for the reception of adequate power.
After her lamentable failure the Alleghany was laid up in ordinary
at Washington navy yard for a year or two and was then moved to
Baltimore, where she remained for many years as a store ship, be-
ing eventually sold in 1869 for $5, '250.

During this same experimental period a project for constructing
an iron-clad steam battery was submitted to the government by Mr.
Robert L. Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey, and was so well re-

58 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ceived that Congress, by an act approved April 14, 1842,rauthor-
ized the Secretary of the Navy to enter into contract with Mr. Ste-
vens "for the construction of a war steamer, shot and shell proof,
to be built principally of iron, upon the plan of the said Stevens,"
the act appropriating two hundred and fifty thousand dollars towards
carrying the law into effect and providing that the whole cost of the
steamer should not exceed the average cost of the Mississippi and
Missouri. Although the steamer thus originated was never com-
pleted, and its history reached forward into a period far ahead of
that with which we have yet begun to deal, it was such an object of
interest to the early engineers that it is' entitled to mention in this
place, especially as the present chapter has been devoted to the re-
cital of upset theories and blasted hopes.

Mr. Stevens was the son of the famous American inventor, John
Stevens, who, as early as 1804, had snccessfully operated a Email
experimental steamer with twin screw propellers in place of paddle-
wheels; who, in 1812, had prepared a complete set of plans for a
circular iron-clad steam battery, and whose name was for many years
intimately associated with the beginning of steam navigation and
railway operations in this country. Robert L. Stevens inherited his
father's inventive genius and his incomplete inventions, among them
the idea of the armored steam battery. The original plan for this
vesssel was for a large iron steamer (about two hundred and fifty
feet long) to be protected with plates of four and one-half inch iron
armor plate, Mr. Stevens having proved to the satisfaction of the
Coast Defense Board, composed of army and navy officers, that iron
plates of this thickness could withstand the fire of any possible gun.
Unfortunately for Stevens, another great genius, who will appear
prominently in the next chapter, arrived on the scene about this time
with a large wrought-iron gun of English manufacture, with which he
proceeded to demonstrate by actual experiments that plates of iron
four and one-half inches thick could be easily penetrated. This was
a great discouragement to Mr. Stevens and occasioned so much offi-
cial interference with his work that the project languished until 1854,
when work on a modified battery was begun in earnest and carried
almost to completion before it was brought to a stand still by the
death of Mr. Stevens in 1856. The vessel thus constructed was
much larger than the original design, being 420 feet long, 53 feet
beam, and of about 6,000 tons displacement. The iron armor pro-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 59

jected for this formidable craft was to be six and three quarter inches
in thickness.

The machinery, which was completed in 1856, was designed for
8,600 horse-power, then an enormous engine power and equal to that
of the f amouB Cheat Eastern. The vessel had twin screws, the shafts
being eight feet apart at the engines and diverging towards the stern,
at which point they were twenty-two feet apart; they also were
designed to point down a little to get a better hold of the water, the
screw ends being about a foot lower than the engine ends. The to-
tal length of each shaft was 184 feet, with a maximum diameter of
seventeen inches. Each shaft was operated by a row of four verti-
cal cylinders placed outboard of the shaft and connected to the cranks
by means of overhead walking beams six feet long and the usual in-
terposition of connecting rods, an arrangement that engineers fami-
liar with our modern navy will recognize as remarkably like the beam
engines adopted by the Advisory Board for the Chicago. The cyl-
inders of these two sets of engines were all of the same dimensions,
viz: forty-five inches in diameter and forty-two inches stroke. The
four cranks of each shaft were placed ninety degrees apart, and the
crank shafts, forged separately, were coupled together in a manner
closely similar to modern practice. The engine frames were built
up of iron plates. The fore-and-aft fire-room, seventy-six feet long,
had five boilers on each side, aggregating 26, 000 square feet of heating
surface. Unlike the typical boilers of that time, these boilers were
fitted with tubes two and a quarter inches in diameter instead of the
large flues so generally used.

Up to this time the government had appropriated five hundred
thousand dollars for this undertaking and the inventor had expended
two hundred thousand dollars of his own money on it be*sides. At
Eobert Stevens' death, the unfinished structure became the property
of his two brothers, Edwin A. and John C. Stevens, who, being very
wealthy from having successfully followed out the railway and shipping
enterprises of their father, offered in 1 8 6 1 to complete the vessel at their
own expense if the government would pay for it if it proved to be
successful. This liberal offer was rejected by the Navy Department
through the medium of a board of naval officers who reported ad-
versely to the project, in spite of the fact that the country was sorely
in need of armored vessels and at that very time another naval
board was in daily session listening to the claims of every inventor

60 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

who came along with a scheme of any kind for an iron clad. In an
effort to prove the practicability of their plan the Stevens brothers
fitted out at their own expense a small steamer named the Nauga-
tuck, with their arrangement of protective armor, and loaned her to
the Navy Department; this craft was in action at Drury's Bluff on
the James river in 1862 and had to fall out of battle owing to the
bursting of her Parrott gun, so her armor did not receive the desired
test, and she never figured as a national vessel on the official navy list.

In 1868 Mr. Edwin A. Stevens died, and by the terms of his will
gave the unfinished battery to the State of New Jersey, bequeathing
$1,000,000 to be used in completing it. General George B. MeClel-
lan of Army of the Potomac fame, was appointed as the engineer to
determine on the plans for completing the vessel, and Mr. Isaac New-
ton, who as an engineer in the navy during the war had won a high
professional reputation, was appointed General McClellan's techni-
cal assistant. These officials determined to convert the structure
into a ram, with a revolving turret similar to that of Ericsson's moni-
tor type. " The bow was strengthened accordingly, an inner skin, on
the double bottom principal, and transverse water-tight bulkheads
were introduced, and the old machinery was entirely replaced with
ten large boilers and two sets of powerful engines of the ' ' Maudsley
& Field" vertical overhead-crosshead type, designed to propel the
vessel at a speed of fifteen knots per hour.

In 1874 the million dollars left by Mr. Stevens was exhausted and
the vessel not yet completed, although far enough along to justify
the claim that she would be the most formidable war vessel in the
world if completed. New Jersey was not disposed to spend the
necessary money for her completion and opened negotiations for her
sale to the' United States, a bargain to that end being practically
completed so far as the Navy Department was concerned, but Con-
gress refused to appropriate the money to make the necessary pay-
ments, and the structure fell back upon the hands of the State of
Bew Jersey. Proposals for her sale, either as a whole or in parts,
were then advertised, and in 1874 and 1875 the most of the material
and machinery was disposed of in that way, even the new engines
being sold for old iron.

Although borne on the official navy list as a national vessel for
several years, this troublous craft never had any other name than
the designation of the "Stevens Battery."

CHAPTER V.

' 'Ericsson's careei proved that the pencil, as well as the pen, is mightier than
the sword. Napoleon did not effect greater changes in the face of Europe than has
Ericsson produced in naval warfare, and these latter are lasting, while the former
have long since passed into other forms."

J. Vaushan Merrick in Church's Life of John Ericsson.

Introduction of the Screw Propeller— John Ericsson.— The Princeton, and Her
Remarkable Engine. — Great-gun Accident on the Princeton and Consequent
Breach of Friendship Between Ericsson and Captain Stockton. — Subsequent
Career of the Princeton.

THIS narrative of the early steam vessels and engineers of our
navy has now progressed to the point where there appears on
the scene the most remarkable marine engineer whose genius has ever
impressed itself upon the engineering practice of the world, his
advent into our naval history being due to the adoption of a war-
steamer, the product of his brain, which in many particulars rad-
ically and successfully departed from the accepted dogmas of
engineers of the time regarding the application of steam power to
marine propulsion. Experiments with screw propellers of various
types had been made in the United States, England, and, elsewhere/
and the practicability of the instrument had been visibly demons-
trated by more than one inventor, notwithstanding which many
engineers persisted in maintaining that its theoretical loss by oblique
action, and other alleged defects, were fatal to its adoption in
practice. Foremost among the experimenters in England was the
Swedish engineer, John Ericsson, who, failing to gain recognition
from the Admiralty although he had constructed entirely successful
screw-propelled vessels, left that country in disgust and came to the
United States, if not at the instance, certainly to the gratification of
Captain Richard F. Stockton of the U. S. Navy.

Captain Stockton had been in England at the time the experi-
ments with Ericsson's propeller were attracting public attention and
he became thoroughly converted to the importance and value of the
invention. Becoming well acquainted with the great engineer, he
had talked to him at length of his wish to have the United States

62 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Government build a steamer on Ericsson's plan of propulsion, and
had made many nattering promises of success to the latter should
he ever take up the practice of his profession in America. The Act
of Congress of 1839, under which the Mississippi and Missowi were
built, had authorized the construction of three vessels, and at the
urgent and repeated solicitations of Captain Stockton the Depart-
ment, late in 1841, directed the construction of the third vessel from
plans suggested by him. As soon as authority to build the ship was
granted, Stockton summoned Ericsson to his aid and engaged him
to make all the necessary designs for the hull and machinery, as
well as to act as general superintendent of the construction of the
same.

This vessel, named the Princeton after Captain Stockton's
home town in New Jersey, was built in Philadelphia during the
years 1842 and 1843, the hull at the navy yard and the machinery
by the engineering firm of Merrick and Towne. She was 164 feet
long, 30£ feet beam, and displaced 954 tons at her mean draft of

ERICSSONS SCREW PROPELLER.

16£ feet. The peculiarity of model consisted in a very flat floor
amidships, with great sharpness forward and excessive leanness aft,

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 03

the run being remarkably fine. She was ship-rigged, spreading
fourteen thousand four hundred and thirteen square feet of canvas
in plain sails. The screw propeller originally used was of the form
known as " the Ericsson " : it was composed of a cast brass hub
with six arms, the latter being surrounded by a copper band or
drum, on which six brass blades were riveted, the general appear-
ance of the instrument being shown as in the annexed sketch. Both
arms and blades were of true helicoidal twist. In Mr. Kobert Mac-
farlane's History of Steam Navigation, published in 1851, this form
of propeller is thus spoken of: — "The advantage of the Ericsson
screw is in having a ring within the arms, whereby any number of
blades can be fixed, and a large area of surface obtained." The
Princeton's propeller was of the following dimensions :

Diameter, extreme 14 feet.

Diameter of drum 8

Diameter of hub 1 " 8 in.

Pitch of screw 35

Length of hub and arms in direction of axis. 2

Width of blades 4 " 1 in.

Weight of screw 12,000 pounds.

In 1845, about a year after the completion of the vessel, the
original propeller was removed and a six-bladed screw without any
supporting drum was substituted, the new screw being 14£ feet in
diameter, 32^^ feet pitch, with blades about 4£ feet wide. Experi-
ments made on the Princeton under similar conditions showed that
the common screw was about 11 per cent, more efficient than
Ericsson's. The Princeton had three iron boilers, designed by
Ericsson to burn hard coal, aggregating 2,420 square feet of heat-
ing surface and 124 square feet of grate surface.

The Princeton was the first screw steam, ww-vessel ever built,
although followed closely by H. M. S. Battler, launched soon after
she was. The Battler was begun some time before the Princeton
and was intended originally for side- wheels, but was changed while
building owing to a change in sentiment regarding screw propellers.
To this circumstance may be attributed the fact that the Battler is
frequently claimed to have been the first screw war-steamer. The
Princeton was also the first vessel of war in which all the machinery

64 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

was placed entirely below the water line out of reach of shot. She
was also the first war-vessel with boilers designed to burn anthracite
coal, thus avoiding the volume of black smoke to betray her presence
to an enemy : blowers were used for the first time in naval practice,
and she was the first steamer provided with a telescopic smoke pipe.
Ericsson was the first engineer to couple the engine direct to the
screw shaft, other experimenters with screws using intermediate
gearing in deference to the theories of the day.

The engine of the Princeton may be roughly described as a
half-cylinder, in which a rectangular piston vibrated like a barn door
on its hinges, and was beyond doubt the most remarkable modifica-
tion of the steam engine ever carried into successful practice. The
principle of a vibrating rectangular piston is an*old mechanical
device, so old, in fact, that it was embraced in Watt's patent as one
of the modes of transmitting the power of steam to machinery, but,
until Ericsson's time ; engineers had failed to build successful
engines on this plan. Ericsson's plan differed radically from pre-
vious attempts, from the fact, that he introduced, opposite the main
semi-cylinder, a much smaller one with its piston a prolongation of
of the large one on the opposite side of the shaft, both being acted
on by the steam at the same time and the difference in their powers
being the effective force transmitted to the crank levers.

In the Princeton this combined or double semi-cylinder was
eight feet long and placed horizontal with the smaller semi-cylinder
uppermost. The smaller, or re-acting, piston was ten inches wide
and the lower, or working piston thirty-six inches wide. This
difference leaves twenty-six inches of effective width of piston, with
its center of pressure located 10+13=23 inches from the center of the
piston shaft. The effective piston area therefore was 26x96=2,516
square inches, moving back and forth through an arc of ninety
degrees with an arm or radius of twenty-three inches, the distance
of the center of pressure from the center of the piston shaft.

Before laughing at this contrivance as a crude effort of olden
times it is well to investigate a little, and we will find that it pos-
sessed peculiar merits. , The vibration of the working piston will be
found to correspond closely to the beat of a pendulum ; and there-
fore its swing during the first half of each vibration would be mater-
ially assisted by the force of gravity. The arrangement with the

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

steam ports underneath, facilitated the outflow of condensed water
and prevented any dangerous accumulation in the cylinder. Centri-
fugal force aided the outward tendency of the packing, and in the
case of the lower piston this was further assisted by the force of
gravity. The crank levers were attached to the piston shafts in
nearly the same plane with the pistons, which relieved the journals
of that shaft from irregular strains. The small angular movement
(ninety degrees) of the main piston was also an important feature.
A greater motion would increase the power of any given sized
engine but would also increase the strain on all the principal bear-

PISTON MOVEMENT U. S. 8. PRINCETON (ERICSSON'S PATENT.)

ings, as the force of the piston obviously increases in the inverse
ratio of the sines of the angles of the piston shaft cranks, with refer-
ence to the position of the connecting rods. A moderate increase
of diameter would make up the loss of power due to the short arc
through which the piston vibrates. Another advantage resulting
from this short vibration was the possibility of fitting deep cylinder
covers to resist the upward pressure of the steam. Finally it will be
noticed that there are very few working parts, and the moving parts
are fewer than in any other type of steam engine, except possibly
the oscillating engine with the piston rod connected directly to the
crank.

s
o

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 67

Ordinary slide valves of the locomotive type were fitted to this
peculiar engine. Two of these engines were fitted in the Princeton,
parallel to the crank-shaft and imparting motion by the connections
shown in the outline sketch.

The ship was completed and ready for sea about the first of
January, 1844, and was exhibited as a marine wonder at various
places along the coast. Although this was some time after the
enactment of the law regulating the appointment of engineers in the
naval service, Captain Stockton appointed the first ones for this ship
as though the ship belonged to him ; indeed it is not improbable he
felt a certain right to ownership, he being a man of wealth had spent
much of his own money on the vessel. • When the vessel was com-
pleted he sent the following report to the Secretary of the Navy,
which is very interesting and gives the best description of the Prince-
ton in existence :

" U. S. Ship Pbincbton,
" Philadelphia, Feb. 5th, 1844.

"Sib:

"The United States Ship Princeton having received her arma-
ment on board, and being nearly ready for sea, I have the honor to
transmit to you the following account of her equipment, etc. :

"The Princeton is a full rigged ship of great speed and power,
able to perform any service that can be expected from a ship of war.
Constructed upon the most approved principles of naval architecture,
she is believed to be at least equal to any ship of her class with her
sail, and she has an auxiliary power of steam and can make greater
speed than any sea going steamer or other vessel heretofore built.
Her engines lie snug in the bottom of the vessel, out of reach of an
enemy's shot, and do not at all interfere with the use of the sails,
but can at any time be made auxiliary thereto. She shows no chim-
ney, and makes no smoke, and there is nothing in her external ap-
pearance to indicate that she is propelled by steam.

" The advantages of the Princeton over both sailing ships and
steamers propelled in the usual way are great and obvious. She can
go in and out of port at pleasure, without regard to the force or di-
rection of the wind or tide, or the thickness of the ice. She can ride
safely with her anchors in the most open roadstead, and may lie-to

68 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

in the severest gale of wind with safety. She can not only save her-
self, but will be able to tow a squadron from the dangers of a lee
shore. Using ordinarily the power of the wind and reserving her
fuel for emergencies, she can remain at sea the same length of time
as other sailing ships. Making no noise, smoke, or agitation
of the water (and if she chooses, showing no sail), she can surprise
an enemy. She can take her own position and her own distance from
an enemy. Her engines and water wheel being below the surface
of the water, safe from an enemy's shot, she is in no danger of be-
ing disabled, even if her masts should be destroyed. She will not
be at daily expense for fuel as other steamships are. The engines
being seldom used, will probably outlast two such ships. These ad-
vantages make the Princeton, in my opinion, the cheapest, fastest,
and most certain ship of war in the world.

" The equipments of this ship are of the plainest and most sub-
stantial kind, the furniture of the cabins being made of white pine
boards, painted white, with mahogany chairs, table, and sideboard,
and an American manufactured oil cloth on the floor.

" To economize room, and that the ship may be better venti-
lated, curtains of American manufactured linen are substituted for
the usual and more customary and expensive wooden bulkheads, by
which arrangement the apartments of the men and officers may in
an instant be thrown into one, and a degree of spaciousness and com-
fort is attained unusual in a vessel of her class.

"The Princeton is armed with two long 225-pounder wrought
iron guns, and twelve 42-pounder earronades, all of which may be
used at once on either side of the ship. She can consequently throw
a greater weight of metal at one broadside than most frigates. The
big guns of the Princeton can be fired with an effect terrific and al-
most incredible, and with a certainty heretofore unknown. The ex-
traordinary effects of the shot were proved by firing at a target,
which was made to represent a section of the two sides and deck of
a 74-gun ship, timbered, kneed, planked and bolted in the same
manner. This target was 560 yards from the gun. With the
smaller charges of powder, the shot passed through these immense
masses of timber (being fifty-seven inches thick), tearing it away and
splintering it for several feet on each side, and covering the whole
surface of the ground for a hundred yards square with fragments of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 69

wood and iron. The accuracy with which these guns throw their
immense shot (which are three feet in circumference), may be judged
by this: the six shots fired in succession at the same elevation struck
the same horizontal plank more than half a mile distant. By the ap-
plication of the various arts to the purposes of war on board the
Princeton, it is believed that the art of gunnery for sea service has
for the first time been reduced to something like mathematical cer-
tainty. The distances to which these guns can throw their shot at
every necessary angle of elevation has been ascertained by a series
of careful experiments. The distance from the ship to any object is
readily ascertained with an instrument on board, contrived for that
purpose by an observation which it requires but an instant to make,
and by inspection without calculation. By self-acting locks, the guns
can be fired accurately at the necessary elevation, no matter what the
motion of the ship may be. It is confidently believed'that this small
ship will be able to battle with any vessel, however large, if she is
not invincible against any foe. The improvements in the art of war
adopted on board the Princeton may be productive of more important
results than anything that has occured since the invention of gun-
powder. The numerical force of other navies, so long boasted, may
be set at naught. The ocean may again become neutral ground, and
the rights of the smallest as well as the greatest nations may once
more be respected. All of which, for the honor and defense of every
inch of our territory, is most respectfully submitted to the honorable
Secretary of the Navy, for the information of the President and Con-
gress of the United States.

' ' By your obedient and faithful servant,

"E. F. Stockton,

"Captain, U. S. Navy.

On February 28, 1844, the Princeton, sailed from Washington
on a pleasure and trial trip down the Potomac river, having on board
President Tyler and his Cabinet and a distinguished party of civil
and military officials, invited by Captain Stockton to witness the per-
formance of the vessel and her machinery. The trip was a great suc-
cess professionally and convivially, and Captain Stockton was lion-
ized as the greatest inventor of the times, it being the general im-
pression that the ship and all that was in her had sprung from his

70 THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES.

vigorous brain. On the return trip one of those irresponsible per-
sons who are always doing something that ought not to be done and
whose names are never known afterward, wanted to have the big
gun known as ' ' Peacemaker, ' ' fired again ' ' just for fun, ' ' to which
Captain Stockton dissented, as the guns had been thoroughly exer-
cised earlier in the day; he yielded, however, upon the good-natured
wish expressed by the Secretary of the Navy to let the guests have
all the sport they wished, and the gun was fired. It burst, injuring
many people, among them Stockton himself, and killing the Hon.
Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of State; Hon. Thomas. W. Gilmer,
Secretary of the Navy; Captain Beverly Kennon, U. S. Navy; Hon.
Virgil Maxey of Maryland; Mr. David Gardiner, and a colored ser-
vant. Mr. Gilmer had been Secretary of the Navy less than two
weeks, and Mr. Upshur had been Secretary of the Navy at a period
shortly before he received the portfolio of the Department of State.
Mr. Gardiner was a descendant of the ' ' lords of the manor' ' of Gar-
diner's Island, and his tragic death was the cause of an interesting
romance; his body was taken to the White House by direction of the
President, and in the resulting distress and sympathy President Ty-
ler developed such an interest in Gardiner's beautiful daughter Julia
that he afterward married her.

When Ericsson came to the United States he brought among
many other inventions a large wrought iron gun, designed by him-
self and made in England. On trial this gun developed cracks
which Ericsson remedied by an expedient now in general use in gun
making, namely, by shrinking bands on it. Thus altered it was
fired more than one hundred times with great success, its projectiles
piercing a 4^-inch wrought iron target, and it was placed on board
the Princeton, with the name of " Oregon," as one of the two heavy
guns of that vessel ; the name ' ' Oregon ' ' was adopted because that
word was in everybody's mouth owing to an international contro-
versy then in progress, the British Lion being engaged in an attempt
to place his heavy paw upon our extreme north-western territories.
The other great gun of the Princeton — the "Peacemaker" — was
Captain Stockton's gun, and was simply an imitation of Ericsson's,
being regarded as an improvement over the latter, as its breach was
a foot greater in diameter and the gun was heavier throughout, the
quality of its metal being over looked in the effort to provide quan-

* THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 71

tity; it was of the same calibre, viz, twelve inches. Its weight was
about ten tonB and was claimed to be the largest forging then in the
world and a great manufacturing triumph, as only a few years before
the forges of the United States could not produce a wrought-iron
shaft for the second Fulton.

It is a matter of simple history that Captain Stockton allowed
the belief to become general that he was the originator of everything
connected with the Princeton and tacitly, if not directly, withheld
from Ericsson the credit which was his due. In the eulogistic ac-
count of the Princeton before quoted, the name of John Ericsson
does not appear, although every detail mentioned with so much en-
thusiasm as great improvements was his invention. The hull of the
Princeton was designed by Ericsson ; the engines were of his patent,
and so was the screw propeller; the telescopic smoke pipe and fire
room blowers were his; the banded gun was his invention; the range
finder was his; the automatic gun lock was his; the Princeton was
essentially the child of Ericsson's brain. So long as the career of
the Princeton amounted to a triumphal procession from one city to
another, John Ericsson remained in the shadow of obscurity, but
with the bursting of the "Peacemaker" he was remembered and
summoned to Washington. "Captain Stockton," as Mr. Church
very pointedly remarks, ' ' bethought himself of Ericsson. If he was
not disposed to share the credit of success with him he was quite
ready to give him his full measure of responsibility for disaster."
Ericsson declined to be held responsible for an imitation gun not of
his making and his letter in reply to the summons to proceed to
Washington is a veritable gem of irony and independence. Stock-
ton never forgave him and greatly injured him afterward by prevent-
ing the payment by the Government of Ericsson's bill for his patents
and his invaluable professional work for the two years that the ship
was under construction. In denying Ericsson's claim for payment
for his services Stockton referred to him as a " mechanic of some
skill," and made the remarkable statement that he had allowed him,
" as a particular act of favor and kindness," to superintend the con-
struction of the Princeton's machinery. Not many months before,
at a dinner in Princeton, celebrating the launching of the ship, Cap-
tain Stockton had introduced Ericsson as the man for whom he had
searched all over the world, who was capable of inventing and
carrying out all that was necessary to make a complete ship of

72 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

war. Ericsson experienced all the weary circumlocution of bills in
Congress, suits in the court of claims, &c, and to the great shame
of our country eventually died with the bills for his services on the
Princeton still unpaid. The whole miserable story is told in Mr.
Win. C. Church's admirable history of the life of John Ericsson, a
book that is well worth the study of all engineers.

The .Princeton was employed in the home squadron during the
years 1845, '46 and '47, and was actively engaged in the Mexican
War, her performance under sail and steam at all times being high-
ly satisfactory, and her reliability as a steamer remarkable. The
mean results, when under steam alone during this period, were as
follows:

Mean steam pressure in boilers 11.75 pounds.

Mean initial pressure in cylinders (throttle

one-fifth open) 6.3 "

Double vibrations of piston, per minute. . .22.58 "
Consumption of anthracite coal per hour,

fan blast 1,293

Mean effective pressure throughout stroke, 9 "

Horse-power developed by engines 191.893

Speed of ship in knots, per hour 7. 29

Slip of the screw 10.38 per cent.

Sea water evaporated per hour per pound

of coal 6.64 pounds.

In 1847 the Princeton was supplied with new boilers of the
same number and external dimensions as the old, but with about
twenty per cent, more heating surface* thus improved she sailed for
the Mediterranean station where she remained two years under the
command of Commander Frederick Engle. Mr. Henry Hunt was
her chief engineer the first part of this cruise, succeeded by Joshua
Follansbee. On this cruise the performance under steam was much
better than it had been with the original boilers and it was claimed
that she was, considered in connection with the amount of fuel con-
sumed, the most efficient steamer in existence. She was an object
of interest and admiration to European engineers and her cruise in
the Mediterranean did much to break down the prejudice of sailors
against steamers, and of engineers against the screw and the practice

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 73

of coupling engines direct to the shaft. At sea she was readily han-
dled, either with steam or sail, and had no bad quality except the
fault of pitching violently owing to her great leanness forward and
aft. Under sail, with the propeller uncoupled, she was claimed to
be as fast and handy as most sailing vessels, and she is said to have
beaten some sloops of war and frigates in clawing off a lee shore in
a heavy gale, under sail and dragging her screw.

The old navy captains had strenuously asserted that steam could
never be practically applied to naval warfare, and the defects in the
first side wheel steamers and failure of Hunter's system of submerged
propulsion added weight to their predictions. The appearance and
successful performances of the Princeton, without any objection-
able side-wheels and with the machinery entirely below the water
line, left the objectors with no argument except their own sentimen-
tal predilections in favor of sails, and for this reason the Princeton
may truly be credited with the honor of being the germ of our steam
navy, for after her first service there was no longer any doubt in the
minds of sensible men that the old order of things must yield to the
new. Besides inaugurating the era of steam men of war, the Prin-
ceton may be credited with introducing another new factor into the
problem of marine warfare. It has been previously mentioned that
Ericsson's wrought-iron gun had been used to perforate an iron
target, and, although that particular gun was removed from the ship
after the disaster to its copy, this fact set people thinking about how
to resist the fire of such guns. As Lieutenant Jacob W. Miller very
aptly says in an essay read before the U. S. Naval Institute, " When
the U. S. S. Princeton, propelled by Ericsson's screw and armed by
Ericsson's wrought-iron gun, was launched the war between armor
and projectiles began."

When the Princeton returned from the Mediterranean in 1849
she was condemned by a survey and immediately broken up at the
Boston Navy Yard. It is asserted in Commodore Stockton's biog-
raphy that the hasty condemnation and destruction of this ship was
the work of certain naval captains who were jealous of the fame and
popularity he had won in championing the cause of steam in the
navy, and it is certain that much hard feeling was occasioned by the
event, but this quarrel may well be passed over in silence, especially
as its principals have long since ceased the contentions of this world.
Two years later when Stockton was a member of the United States

74 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Senate he prevailed upon the Navy Department to rebuild his ship,
and a new hull was accordingly built at the Boston navy yard, such
of the old timbers as were fit being worked into the new structure.
The new Princeton was a clipper-built ship, 177 feet long, 33 feet
8 inches beam, and of 1370 tons displacement at mean draft, which
dimensions it will be noticed correspond very closely with those of
our present Enterprise class of corvettes. The old Ericsson semi-
cylinder engines, being in good order, were not destroyed with the
ship, and these were taken to Baltimore and thoroughly overhauled
at the Vulcan Iron Works, under the supervision of Chief Engineer
Wm. H. Shock, U. S. Navy. The only material change made in
them was in the addition of Sickel's adjustable cut-off. Three iron
boilers of the " Lamb and Summer " patent, previously referred to
in connection with the Alleghany, were supplied by the Baltimore
firm; also a four-bladed composition propeller, 16 feet in diameter,
not unlike in general form the propellers in use fifteen years ago.

A long delay in completing the ship occured on account of a
controversy between the engine builders and the Navy Department
as to whether the machinery was to be installed in Boston or Balti-
more, but the Department, being anxious to get the ship for the Ja-
pan expedition, finally sent her to Baltimore and the machinery was
put in place during the summer of 1852. Eventually completed, the
Princeton sailed from Annapolis in November, 1852, in company
with the Mississippi, but on the voyage down Chesapeake Bay the
boilers gave so much trouble that she was detained at Norfolk and
the Mississippi sailed without her. The Board of Engineers named
in Chapter IV. as having been organized to investigate the failures
of certain vessels, reported in the case of the Princeton that the ad-
dition of the Sickel's cut-off was injudicious and that the failure of
the ship was attributable to the patent boilers; so far as any individ-
ual was to blame for the failure, the report stated that Mr. Stuart,
the former engineer-in-chief, who had recommended the use of the
Lamb and Summer boilers was the responsible person. Commodore
Stockton felt that his pet ship had been terribly bungled in rebuild-
ing, possibly maliciously so, and he denounced the whole affair by
a vigorous speech in the Senate, referring to the new Princeton as
" an abortion in the naval service." After lying idle in Norfolk
for a year or two, the Princeton was taken to Philadelphia and used
as a receiving ship until October 9, 1866, when she was sold.

CHAPTEK VI.

"I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of
course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to en-
deavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto,"

Francis Bacon.

Reorganization of the Engineer Corps — Case of Chief Engineer C. B. Moss — All
Assistant Engineers Examined and Re-arranged According to Proficiency —
Laws and Regulations Affecting the Engineer Corps from 1845 to 1850^-
Resignation of Chief Engineer John Faron, Jr.

THE act of August 31, 1842, creating the engineer corps of the
navy, authorized the Secretary of the Navy to appoint the en-
gineer-in-chief and the chief engineers, as well as the assistant engi-
neers. In the original draft of this bill it was provided that the
engineer-in-chief and chief engineers should be commissioned offi-
cers, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, which
provision met with approval, but disappeared at the last moment
when the bill assumed its final form. This omission was said to be
due to the exertions of Mr. Gilbert L. Thompson, who had arranged
to be appointed to the new office of engineer-in-chief, and, not being
an engineer by profession, was fearful that the Senate would not
confirm him when nominated; so he used his political influence to
further his interests by making the way to the desired office as free
from legislative and legal forms and ceremonies as possible.

After Mr. Thompson's short career as engineer- in -chief, his
successor, Mr. Haswell, immediately undertook the task of remedy-
ing the defect in organization occasioned by the diplomacy of his
predecessor, his efforts being so successful that the naval appropria-
tion bill of the following year (approved March 3, 1845) contained
the following: —

Sec. 7. And he it further enacted, That in lieu of the mode heretofore pro-
vided by law, the engineer-in-chief and chief engineers of the navy shall be ap-
pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and that
the President, by and with the like advice and consent, may appoint six engineers,
to be employed in the revenue service of the United States, and the Secretary of the
Treasury may appoint six assistant engineers, to be employed in the like service, one
engineer and one assistant to be assigned to each steamer in the said service, if the

76 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

same shall be deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall pre-
scribe the duties to be performed by said officers respectively; each of the said engi-
neers shall be entitled to receive the same pay as now is, or hereafter may be, by
law, allowed to first lieutenants in the revenue service; and that each assistant engi-
neer shall be entitled to receive the same pay that now is, or hereafter may be, by
law, allowed to third lieutenants In said service.

The enactment of this law made it necessary for the names of
the chief engineers to he sent to the Senate for confirmation for
commissions, and this furnished the engineer-in-chief with an op-
portunity to re-arrange them in what, according to his judgment,
was their proper order of merit, his recommendation on the subject
to the Secretary of the Navy, dated May 9, 1845, being approved
and a re-arrangement accordingly made by numbering the commis-
sions. There were then seven chief engineers ranking with each
other according to date of appointment in the following order:

John Faron, Jr., appointed January 13, 1840.
Andrew Hebard, appointed February 6, 1840.
James Thompson, appointed April 14, 1842.
Win. P. Williamson, appointed October 20, 1842.
Charles B. Moss, appointed May 29, 1844.
Wm. Sewell, Jr., appointed February 11, 1845.
W. W. W. Wood, appointed March 15, 1845.

By Mr. Haswell's recommendation, this order of precedence
was changed to the following, in order of number of commission:

1. John Faron, Jr.

2. Andrew Hebard.

3. Wm. Sewell, Jr.

4. W. W. W. Wood.

5. James Thompson.

6. Wm. P. Williamson.

7. Charles B. Moss.

This new arrangement was of course not agreeable to those who
were reduced in standing, Mr. Williamson especially feeling ag-
grieved at having Messrs. Sewell and Wood, who had just entered
the corps as chief engineers direct from civil life, placed above him,
and the case does appear to savor of hardship, but the judgment of
the engineer-in- chief was allowed to stand as final, and Mr. Will-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 77

iamson's protests to the Department availed him nothing. Chief
Engineer Moss also came to grief at the hands of the Department at
the same time. He was a close friend of President Tyler, and had
been his private secretary prior to receiving an appointment as a
chief engineer in the navy, and after that remained in Washington
as a member of the President's household. President Tyler's term
of office expired March i, 1845, and the following day the Navy
Department took possession of Mr. Moss by ordering him to Pitts-
burgh as inspector of machinery, building in that city for the Alle-
ghany. Two months later, when Mr. Haswell recommended the re-
arrangement of the chief engineers, he reported to the Department
that ' ' Mr. Moss, without the advantages of personal observation
consequent upon the immediate management of the steam engine,
has made himself well acquainted with its operation and possesses
high attainments in physics and mathematics. ' ' Proteges of Presi-
dent Tyler were not popular with the new administration, however,
and the Navy Department detached Mr. Moss from his duty in
Pittsburgh, placed him on furlough, and ordered him to report at a
future date to the engineer-in-chief for an examination as to his
qualifications for sea duty, the letter of explanation accompanying
the order stating:

"In consequence of the Department's want of confidence in
your ability to assume the detailed direction and perform the prac-
tical duties of a chief engineer attached to a sea-going steamer, and
at the same time, entertaining the disposition to concede to you all
proper indulgence and facilities, it has decided that for the purpose
of giving you an opportunity practically to acquire the knowledge
which it conceives you to be in want of, you will be detached from
your present duties and put on furlough until the 15th of December
next. ' '

About the middle of January following, Mr. Moss was ordered
before an examining board composed of the engineer-in-chief and
the two senior chief engineers of the navy, which resulted in his re-
ceiving the following notification from Secretary Bancroft:

"In consequence of the result of your examination, which has
been communicated to you, I am authorized by the President to in-
form you that your commision as a chief engineer in the navy of the

?8 THIi STEAM tf AVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

United States is hereby revoked, and you are no longer a chief en-
gineer.

"A warrant as a second assistant engineer in the navy, in ac-
cordance with the report of the Board of Engineers before which
you were examined, will be given you upon your signifying your
readiness to accept it."

This letter was dated January 30, 1846, and as Mr. Moss did
not signify his willingness to accept the proffered warrant, his con-
nection with the service ceased on that date. The affair is narrated
as an illustration of the danger of relying upon political influence
for official position, and also as serving to show the uncertain tenure
of a commission in the navy in olden times, which latter uncertainty
was not confined to the young engineer corps, but menaced all com-
missioned officers alike.

Having disposed of the chief engineers, Mr. Haswell turned
his attention to the assistants, and recommended that they all, irre-
spective of grade or length of service in the navy, be subjected to an
examination to establish their fitness for the service and determine
their relative merits, which recommendation was approved by Sec-
retary Bancroft, and an examining board convened by his order in
the city of Washington on the 9th of July, 1845. This board con-
sisted of Engineer-in-Chief Haswell as president and Chief Engi-
neers John Faron, Jr., and Wm. W. W. Wood as members, and
before it all the assistant engineers who were within summoning dis-
tance were ordered to appear.

The proceedings of the examining board partook largely of
" star chamber " methods, as may be seen from the following letter
of instructions issued to the board by the chief of the Bureau of
Construction, Equipment and Repairs, who represented the Secre-
tary of the Navy for the time, and to which bureau the engineering
branch was attached as a sub-department or bureau:

" Messrs. C. H. Haswell, 1

John Faron, J. Engineers.

W. W. W. Wood, j

"INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BOARD FOR EXAMINATION OF
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS.

' ' The board will take particular care to ascertain the qualifica-
tions of the candidates for all the duties that may be required of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 79

them, as assistant engineers, and satisfy themselves of their moral,
as well as professional fitness for the public service.

' ' Having ascertained the merits of the candidates as above,
the board will proceed to class them as first, second and third assist-
ants— taking into view professional and moral fitness and other cir-
cumstances which may give claim to preference.

"Having classed the candidates as above, the board will ar-
range them in their several classes according to merit.

' ' The appointments now held by assistant engineers are to be
considered as temporary, and not giving claim to precedence, ex-
cept in cases when candidates may be thought to be equal in merit,
then preference will be given to the senior appointment.

"The board will admit but one candidate for examination at a
time, the examination is to be considered private and confidential,
and it will impress upon the mind of each candidate, and enjoin it on
him, that he is not to disclose to any one the course of examination,
the questions asked him, or anything that may occur in the session
of the board.

' ' The decisions at which the board may arrive are to be com-
municated to no one ; but are, when the whole examination is com-
pleted, to be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy, for such action
as he may deem proper.

" By order of the Secretary of the Navy.

" W. B. Shubeick,
' ' for Com. Morris,
"Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repairs, July 8, 1845."

At that time the different grades of assistant engineers were
composed of the following members, arranged in order of seniority
according to length of service:

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

FIRST ASSISTANTS.

1. Hiram Sanford,

2. William Scott,

3. James Cochrane,

4. Henry Hunt,

5. D. B. Martin,

6. John Alexander,

7. James Atkinson,

8. Thomas Copeland,

9. Levi Griffin,

10. B. F. Isherwood,

11. Alexander Birkbeck.

SECOND ASSISTANTS.

A. S. Palmer,
J. S. Rutherford,
J. K. Mathews,
Gilbert Sherwood,
N. C. Davis,
Daniel Murphy,
J. M. Middleton,
William Luce,
Levi T. Spencer,
J. F. Dryburgh.

THIBD ASSISTANTS.

Smith Thompson,
Josbua Follansbee,
Wm. F. Mercier,
John Gallagher,
William Taggart,
Samuel Archbold,
John Serro,
Thomas Dickson.
Theodore Zeller,
M. M. Thompson,
JameB W. King,
Robert Danby,
William H. Shock,
Charles Coleman.

After examining all the available assistant engineers the result
of the examination was reported as follows:

"Office of Enginekb Cobps, U. S. N.,
" Jnly 28th, 1845.

"Sib:—

"In behalf of the Board for the examination of Assistant
Engineers that was convened on the 9th instant, I have to report:

"That there were twenty-seven Assistants examined, one of
whom was rejected.

' ' The accompanying paper contains a list of the names of those
that were passed, arranged in the several grades and numbered in
the order in which they are recommended to be placed.

"In consideration of this being the first occasion since the
organization of the Engineer Corps that duty of this nature has been
performed, and as many changes in the different grades are recom-
mended to be made, I deem it proper to recur to the irregular
manner in which the present tenure of appointments of those ex-
amined originated.

"Thus from 1837 to 1842 there did not exist the grade of
Third Assistant, and not until 1842 was there an examination prior
to admission into the corps, and even up to the present time there
has not been an appointment under any defined regulations or re-
strictions.

"With these facts in view it is fair to infer that errors of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

position could not have been avoided; added to which, observation,
ambition, and a difference in capacity, have secured to some (since
their appointments in the service) that advantage which is so readily
obtained when their attendant results are contrasted with indiffer-
ence and a less regard to the exactions of advancement.

" The want of a working model of a condensing engine for the
purposes of illustration and reference was much felt, and in future
examinations of candidates for admission into the corps much incon-
venience will be experienced without the use of one. I recommend
that one be constructed at the navy yard in Washington — the cost of
which should not exceed $300.

"Mr. Alexander Birkbeck, Jr. , is recommended as worthy of an
examination for promotion to a Chief Engineer whenever the De-
partment may see fit to add to the number of that grade. First
Assistant Thomas Copeland from physical infirmity, added to the
want of professional experience as a marine engineer, is considered
unfit to discharge the duties pertaining to an Assistant Engineer in
the Naval Service.

' I am, very respectfully,

' ' Your obedient servant,

"Chas. JEL Haswell. "

The paper referred to in the above report as giving the names
of the assistant engineers, re -arranged in the order of merit recom-
mended by the examining board, shows that the following order,
which was officially approved, was recommended:

FIRST A8SI8TAHT8.

SECOND ASSISTANTS.

THIRD ASSISTANTS.

Alexander Birkbeck, Jr

Joshua Follansbee,

John M. Middleton,

Henry Hunt,

John Alexander,

Wm. F. Mercier,

Daniel B. Martin,

James Atkinson,

William Taggart,

Hiram Sanford.

Levi Griffin,

William Luce,

James Cochrane,

Levi T. Spencer,
Albert S. Palmer,

James W. King,

James K. Dryburgh,
Theodore Zeller,

Jesse S. Rutherford,

Samuel Archbold,

Kobert Danby,

Nay lor 0. Davis,

William H. Shock,

10.

Daniel Murphy,

John Serro,

M. M. Thompson.

82 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Of the eight assistants not examined in July,' two, Second As-
sistant Gilbert Sherwood and Third Assistant Smith Thompson, de-
clined the examination and resigned. The other six, the vessels to
which they were attached having returned to the United States, were
ordered before the board in December and January following, and
examined, Chief Engineer Andrew Hebard being then one of the
examiners in place of Mr. Wood, who had been sent to New Orleans
to superintend a general overhauling of the machinery of the
General Harney. Those examined were first assistants Wm. Scott
and B. F. Isherwood; second assistant John K. Mathews, and third
assistants John Gallagher, Thomas Dickson, and Charles Coleman.
The result of the examination was that Messrs. Scott and Isherwood
were reduced to second assistants; Mr. Mathews advanced to the
head of the second assistants list; Mr. Gallagher promoted to
second assistant, and Messrs. Dickson and Coleman placed on the
list of third assistants next after Wm. H. Shock and M. M. Thomp-
son respectively.

This whole proceeding was most radical and arbitrary, and occa-
sioned much heart-burning among those unfortunates who lost grade
or numbers in the final arrangement; nevertheless, it was demanded
by the lack of homogeneity in the corps which had resulted from the
irregular manner in which the first engineers had been appointed,
and the advantages of establishing professional competency as a
requisite for membership in the corps, and of starting fair, even
though a trifle late, with the engineering personnel graded according
to merit, much more than offset any grievances of individuals re-
sulting from the rearrangement. Of high professional ability and
broad general education himself, Mr. Haswell felt that the require-
ment of similar ability from all the members of his corps was the
only proper method of elevating its standard, and the imposition of
this arbitrary examination upon the junior engineers was the first
step in that direction. That the step was of great subsequent bene-
fit to the corps is manifest, and its inception indicates a degree of
corps pride and far-sightedness on the part of the engineer-in-chief
to be admired and commended more than any other of his numerous
acts which operated to the lasting benefit of his corps. Moral
courage of a high order was necessary to the carrying out of this
reform, for it could be of no possible personal benefit to its pro-

CHAS. H. HASWELI-.

The first engineer in the United States Navy : appointed Chief

Engineer July 12, 1836. Engineer-in-chief of the Navy

from October 3, 1844, until December 1, 1850.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 85

jector, and by its character was bound to make enemies for him
within his own corps, where friends were most needed; enemies
who treasured up their wrongs, real or imaginary, and patiently
waited for the time, which eventually came, when they could safely
combine to seek their revenge.

Mr. Haswell's scheme for the reformation and reorganization
of his corps was further perfected this same year by the promulga-
tion of a set of regulations governing the admission and promotion
of members of the engineer corps. This order was dated July 8,
1845, and established limits of age for candidates, made the per-
formance of a certain amount of sea service in each grade a re-
quirement for promotion, and fixed a scale of mental requirements
much in advance of what had been previously demanded. The
initial examination for admission as a third assistant engineer was
elementary compared with modern requirements, but the subsequent
advances in grade were guarded by examinations that increased in
difficulty in what may be termed geometrical progression, until the
candidate for promotion to the list of chief engineers was required
to pass a very exacting ordeal, calculated to establish the possession
of much scientific and mechanical ability.

Chief engineers of excellent professional and general informa-
tion were habitually selected for the duty of examiners, and it was
an established rule that a failure to pass the required examination
meant an end to the naval career of the delinquent. This furnished
a strong incentive to the young engineers to fit themselves for ad-
vancement, and almost immediately after the reorganization of the
corps a much keener incentive to study and self improvement ap-
peared in the development of an intense spirit of corps pride which
made the engineers quick to recognize their own short- comings and
to strive to overcome them. Opposition from within the service to
the new branch was the chief cause for the early inception of this
esprit de corps, and, although disagreeable to those who had to re-
sist it, should now be regarded as a blessing in disguise to the
engineers, for it prompted all but the laggards not only to overcome
the deficiencies charged against them, but to outstrip their competit-
ors in the pursuit of knowledge.

The Naval Academy was opened the same year that the sys-
tematic reorganization of the engineer corps was effected, and as

86 THE STEAM J5TAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

soon as the two systems were well in operation the young men of the
two branches of the service fell into an intellectual rivalry, which
was good for both classes, and especially for the engineers. The
result of this feeling was frankly confessed by a distinguished naval
captain some years ago, who, in a discussion regarding naval educa-
tion, remarked that under the old system a newly graduated mid-
shipman was much better informed on general subjects than was a
newly appointed third assistant engineer, but at the end of the first
cruise the young engineer would generally be found to be much the
better informed man of the two.

Immediately after being appointed engineer-in-chief, Mr. Has-
well prepared a list of instructions for the government of the
engineer department of vessels of war, which instructions were
issued by the Secretary of the Navy in the form of a general order
to commanding officers under date of February 26, 1845. This
order defined in general, the duties and responsibilities of engineers
afloat, precautions to be observed in the care and preservation of
machinery, etc., and were so well considered and prepared that
some of /the sections still remain in the steam instructions without
modification, except in matters of detail demanded by the changes
in engineering practice.

August 1, 1847, the Navy Department issued a circular order
regarding the enlistment of firemen and coal heavers, which directed
that no fireman should be shipped in the future until he had passed
a satisfactory examination before a board of engineers and demon-
strated his ability to manage fires properly with different kinds of
fuel, and to use skillfully smiths' tools in the repair of boilers and
machinery. Two classes of firemen were established by the order,
and a regular system of promotion from coal heaver to the two
grades of firemen was directed. First class firemen were declared
eligible for advancement to the warrant rank of third assistant engi-
neer if they could qualify before the examining board.

The next year Congress, by an Act approved August 11, 1848,
extended the benefits of existing laws, respecting naval pensions,
to the engineer corps and to enlisted men of the engineers' force,
the wording of the act being as follows:

"Sec. 2.— That engineers, firemen, and coal heavers in the navy shall be
entitled to pensions in the same manner as officers, seamen, and marines, and
the widows of engineers, firtoen and coal heavers in the same manner as the

THE STEAM NATT OF THE UNITED STATES. 87

widows of officers, seamen, and marines : Provided, That the pension of a chief
engineer shall he the same as that of a lieutenant in the navy, and the pension
of the widow of a chief engineer shall be the same as that of the widow of a
lieutenant in the navy; the pension of a first assistant engineer shall be the same
as that of a lieutenant of marines, and the pension of the widow of a first as-
sistant engineer shall be the same as that of the widow of a lieutenant of marines;
the pension of a second or a third assistant engineer the same as that of a forward
officer, and the pension of the widow of a second or third assistant engineer the
same as that of the widow of a forward officer."

A new schedule of pay for engineer officers, by which an in-
crease for all grades was effected, was created by the following sec-
tion from the naval appropriation bill approved March 3, 1849:

Sec. 6. And be itfwrfher enacted, That the engineers in the navy shall
hereafter receive the following pay, viz:

Chief engineers on duty first five years 81,500

Chief engineers on duty after five years 2,000

Chief engineers on leave firBt five years 1.200

Chief engineers on leave after five years 1,400

First assistant engineers on duty 1,000

First assistant engineers on leave 850

Second assistant engineers on duty 800

Second assistant engineers on leave 600

Third assistant engineers on duty..,, 600

Third assistant engineers on leave 400

The engineer corps experienced a decided loss at this period by
the resignation of the senior chief engineer in the service, Mr. John
Faron, Jr., who tendered his resignation in April, 1848, in order to
accept the position of {Superintending Engineer of the newly estab-
lished Collins line of transatlantic mail steamers. Mr. Faron, it
will be remembered, was the first assistant engineer appointed to the
Fulton in 1837, and became a chief engineer in January, 1840. He
was a thoroughly capable and efficient marine engineer, and was
prominently identified with the designing, building and management
of the early naval steamers, as well as being a prominent factor as
a member of the examining board, in the work of reorganizing the
engineer corps. His name was continued on the navy list by the
admission into the corps of a third assistant engineer named John
Faron, a few months after his resignation.

CHAPTER VII.

" I believe that if the question had been put to Congress before the march
of the armies and their actual conflict, not ten Votes could have been obtained in
either house for the war with Moxicb under the existing state of things."—
Webster.

The War With Mexico — Naval Operations in California — Important Service of
Surgeon Wm. Maxwell Wood— Blockade of the Gulf Coast — Commodore
Perry and the Mississippi — Valuable Professional Service of Engineer-in-
Chief Haswell — Bombardment of Vera Cruz — "Alvarado Hunter" — Steam-
ers Bought for Temporary Service — Naval Engineers Engaged in the Mexi-
can War— Results of the War.

THIS volume being devoted to the deeds of naval men, it is
hardly within its province to deal with the causes, or pretexts,
which brought about the war with Mexico. Without referring to the
political and sectional interests involved, it will be sufficient to say in
regard to the direct cause of the war that the Mexican State of
Texas, after having achieved its independence after a short but
exceptionally cruel war, and after having enjoyed the dignity of a
sovereign republic for ten years, asked for admission into the North
American Union, and was admitted late in 1845, bringing with her
a bitter quarrel with her parent country as to the exact boundary line
between them, and a vast assortment of fierce and bloody border
feuds handed down from the days of the Alamo, Goliad and San
Jacinto. The new administration, that of President Polk, resolved
to defend by force if necessary the position taken by the Texans in
regard to their boundary dispute, and within a few months collisions
of troops in the disputed territory gave the American Congress the
opportunity of declaring, May 11, 1846, that "By the acts of the
Eepublic of Mexico, a state of war exists between the United States
and that Republic. ' '

Mexico, being miserably poor, distracted, misgoverned, and
revolutionary, had no national navy, and the navy of the United
States therefore was restricted to a rather limited share in the opera-
tions of the war, being forced to unromantic blockading and trans-
port duties along the coasts, and denied the glory of battles at sea

THE gfEAM VtAYt OF fHE tf arrfED SPATES. &

for lack of an enemy to meet on that element. Nevertheless, BOme
of the ads of the naval force were productive of most important
and lasting results in the prosecution of the -war, while the main-
tenance of a blockade, imperfect as it was from being held by a fleet
mainly composed 01 sailing ships on coasts famous" for sudden
storms, contributed greatly to hapten the end of hostilities :
otherwise the war might have been prolonged by the sending of war
material and supplies into Mexico by other nations had her ports
been left unguarded.

One of the very first events of the war was of the greatest im-
portance, and in all human probability its result was to give to the
United States instead of Great Britain possession for all time of
the vast region then composing the Mexican territory, or province,
of California. The Mexican national debt was largely held by Brit-
ish capitalists, and fearing they would never realize on their invest-
ments because of the constant political turmoil Of the feeble young
republic, had appealed to their own government for assistance, which
was readily attempted, as the foreign policy of England very proper-
ly includes the protection of the pockets of her subjects as well as
their personal safety. Through the regular diplomatic channels
propositions were made to Mexico to mortgage California and allow
its occupation by England until the bonds were paid: a most astute
scheme, and one that would have resulted in due time in the British
government assuming the payment of the debt to its subjects and
becoming the owner in fee simple of the territory held as security.
While negotiations to this end were pending, the prospect of war
between the United States and Mexico became threatening, and a
subject of great interest to the British admiral in the Pacific, who is
believed to have had instructions to seize upon California at the first
news of hostilities, and thus insure his countrymen against financial
loss.

In the spring of 1846 the American Pacific squadron, composed
of sailing vessels, was lying at Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico,
Commodore John D. Sloat in the frigate Savannah being in com-
mand. The British admiral, Seymour, in the Oollvngwood, was also
there, both watching each other and waiting eagerly for news, which
came slowly in those days, without railways and telegraphs. It
often happens that important events in the history of nations result

90 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

from the acts of individuals not prominently connected with them,
or from obscure circumstances of which the public is not cognizant,
and one these events was now to come about. Surgeon Wm. Max-
well Wood, of the Savannah, having been relieved by another sur-
geon, left Mazatlan April 30 on his way home, his plan being to
cross Mexico and take a steamer for the United States before war
began, if a war was really to result. He was commissioned by
Commodore Sloat to convey important information verbally to the
Secretary of the Navy, the condition of the country being such that
it was not deemed safe to trnst his despatches or letters to be carried
across the country. Dr. Wood spoke Spanish fluently, and when
well started on his journey, at Guadalajara, overheard a conversa-
tion not intended for his ears from which he learned that hostilities
had actually occurred on the Eio Grande. He was a most phleg-
matic man, and consequently was able to absorb the startling intelli-
gence without any outward show of interest; furthermore, his man-
ner and personal appearance were those of a prosperous Englishman,
in which character he was traveling, so he was comparatively free
from suspicion.

At the earliest possible moment Surgeon Wood wrote out a de-
tailed account of what he had heard, and despatched it by messen-
ger to Commodore Sloat at Mazatlan, this act involving great per-
sonal risk, for had the despatch been intercepted its author would
certainly have been hunted down and treated as a spy. By good
luck more than anything else the letter reached Commodore Sloat
safely, and that officer was not slow to appreciate the importance of
the news and the exigency of the occasion. He at once sent two of
his vessels — the Cycme and Levant, names that had before been his-
torically associated — to the northward, and followed soon after in
the Savannah. Within a few days the British admiral learned of
the beginning of the war, and, surmising the mission of the Ameri-
can squadron, sailed at once on the same errand; but he was too
late. On the 7th of July the American vessels took possession of
Monterey, the chief city of Upper California, and of San Francisco,
the best harbor, and that territory has ever since remained a part of
the American Kepublic, thanks in the first instance to Surgeon
Wood for his quick perception of his duty in the emergency in which
he was accidentally placed, and in the second to Commodore Sloat

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 91

for assuming the responsibility of seizing upon a vast territory -with-
out orders and without any assurance that his action would be up-
held, or that a force sufficient to hold it -would be supplied.

That Commodore Sloat acted wholly on his own judgment is
proved by the fact that orders from Washington directing him to
take possession of San Francisco Bay in the event of war were re-
ceived by him long after the act had actually been performed. The
importance of Surgeon Wood's part in the affair is testified to by
Commodore Sloat, who, writing him some years later in relation to
the event, said : ' ' The information you furnished me at Mazatlan
from Guadalajara (at the risk of your life) was the only reliable in-
formation I received of that event, and which induced me to pro-
ceed immediately to California, and upon my own responsibility to
take posession of that country, which I did on the 7th of July,
1846." Had California become a British instead of American pos-
session, the subsequent influence upon the progress of the United
States, especially in the ultimate settlement of differences between
the free and the slave states, is a subject quite beyond the bounds
of any possible historical speculation.

Commodore Sloat was succeeded in command of the Pacific
squadron by Commodore Stockton (of Princeton fame,) who, in co-
operation with a small army under General Kearney, quelled an
insurrection in the captured province and held it in hand until by
the terms of the treaty of peace it became definitely a possession of
the United States. His vessels also maintained as good a blockade
of the ports on the western coast of Mexico as the nature of their
motive power permitted. The action of Commodore Sloat in seizing
upon the California coast was by all odds the most far-reaching move
of the war, and the credit for it rests entirely with the navy.

An account of naval operations on the gulf coast of Mexico is
largely a history of Captain M. C. Perry and his favorite war-vessel
— the steamer Mississippi. Within a few weeks after the beginning
of hostilities on the Rio Grande a reasonably efficient blockade of
the Mexican ports was established, although the stormy character of
that coast made blockading a rather difficult matter with the force
at hand. This squadron, under the command of Commodore
Connor, consisted of the steamers Mississippi and Princeton, tne
frigates Raritcm and Potomac, several sloops-of-war, among wli«i&

02 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

were the ill-fated Albany and Gwnherland, and a number of schoon-
ers, bomb-ketches and small steamers, the latter being mentioned
more particularly hereafter. The principal military operation under-
taken by Commodore Connor was an expedition against Alvarado in
October, but owing to the grounding of a schooner on the bar and
signs of an approaching "norther," signal was made to return to
the station off Vera Cruz, the abandonment of the attack greatly
displeasing the subordinate officers and eventually proving some-
thing of a reflection upon Commodore Connor.

In August, Captain Perry was ordered to take two small steam-
ers to Mexico and upon his arrival to relieve Captain Fitzhugh in
command of the Mississippi. The steamers were the Vixen and
Spitfire, small side-wheel vessels of about 240 tons burden, fitted
with horizontal half-beam engines. They were twin vessels and
had been built by Brown & Bell of New York for the Mexican
government, but being unfinished at the time the war began they
were bought by the United States from the builders for about $50,000
each. The Spitfire was sold at the close of the war and was lost on
her first voyage as a commercial vessel ; the Vixen was continued
in the navy until 1855, when she was sold. Captain Perry
arrived on the station with these steamers in September, after which
there was a practical division of the squadron, Commodore Connor,
who does not seem to have had much faith in steamers as war
vessels, allowing Perry to control the steamers while he directed the
operations of the sailing vessels, although he of course, as the sen-
ior, officially commanded the whole squadron.

At the time of Commodore Connor's demonstration against
Alvarado, Perry with the Mississippi, Vixen, and some gun-schoon-
ers, reinforced by two hundred marines from the sailing ships, went
to attack Tobasco up the river of the same name. Frontera, at the
mouth of the river, was taken without resistance on October 23, a
river steamer named Petrita which was afterward of great use being
taken at this time. On the 26th Tobasco was captured after a
smart fight, but the enemy, after having surrendered, attacked the
naval force unexpectedly and this act obliged Perry to bombard the
town, doing it a great deal of damage and completely subduing the
war spirit of the Mexicans, the Vixen taking a prominent part in the
cannonading. Not having a force with which to occupy the town,

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 93

IPerry took away the small vessels he had captured and returned to
rejoin the fleet. One of the vessels taken at Tobasco was a steamer
named the Cka/mpion, formerly employed on the James River in
Virginia, which as a despatch boat became afterward most useful to
the American squadron. Although the captured city was not
occupied, the expedition against it was not without value, for it
infused new life into the men who were growing discontented under
the monotony of looking at the enemy's shores from a distance.

About the middle of November both Connor and Perry went to
attack Tampico, about two hundred miles north of "Vera Cruz, and
gained possession of that place without firing a shot, the appearance
of the squadron off the bar being the signal for surrender. It being
desirable for military reasons to retain this place, Perry with his
ever-ready Mississippi was sent to Matamoras near the mouth of the
Bio Grande to oommunicate with the army authorities and ask that
troops be sent. After doing this he went on his own responsibility
to New Orleans, where he obtained from the governor of Louisiana
a battery of field guns and a quantity of shovels, picks, wheel-
barrows, etc. , much needed for entrenching purposes. Keturning,
lie arrived at Tampico after just one week's absence, his quick trip
amazing the old seamen in the fleet who were almost persuaded into
the belief that a steamer might after all be good for something.

By the end of the year constant service under steam began to
tell on the Mississippi, repairs being so urgently needed that early
an January, 1847, Perry proceeded in her to Norfolk, where he
turned her over to the navy yard authorities, going himself to Wash-
ington to consult with the Navy Department officials relative to the
conduct of the war. A board of survey reported that it would
require six weeks to fit the Mississippi for service, which was very
discouraging news to Perry who felt that important events were
impending in Mexico and who had his own reasons for wishing to
be present during their occurrence. In this emergency he fell back
on his old friend Haswell, the engineer-in-chief, knowing that if
anyone could help him out Haswell was the man. The engineer-in-
chief went to Norfolk and, after a critical examination of the ship,
declared that she could be made ready in two weeks by working
night and day, and this feat was actually accomplished under his
personal direction. "We may safely add that, by his energy, and

94 THE STEAM STAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

ability in getting the Mississippi ready at this time, Mr. Has-
well saved the government many thousands of dollars and contri-
buted largely to the triumphs of a quick war which brought early
peace." *

Commodore Perry's familiarity with steam vessels was utilized
during his enforced stay in the United States at this time by putting
him in charge of the fitting out of a flotilla of lightdraft vessels for
service in Mexico. These were the steamers Seowrge and Scorpion,
and a number of bomb-ketches with imported volcanic names —
Vesuvius, Stromboli, and the like — intended to be towed by the
steamers. The Seowrge was a small vessel of 230 tons burden, pur-
chased in New York for $44,825 ; she was fitted with two of the
Loper flat-bladed propellers, and was sold at New Orleans at the
close of the war. The Scorpion was a paddle-wheel steamer of 340
tons burden, bought in New York for $80,505, and sold in 1848
for $14,500. Although not a part of this flotilla, two other steam-
ers added to the naval establishment for Mexican War service may
properly be mentioned here. These were the Iris, a paddle-wheel
vessel of 388 tons burden, fitted with a steeple engine, bought in
New York in 1847 for $35,991 and sold in Norfolk in 1849 for
about one-fourth that amount, and the Polk, a revenue cutter very
similar to the Scorpion ; the Polk was transferred to the Navy
Department is 1846, but was found unseaworthy and defective in
machinery, having broken down on an attempted voyage to the
Gulf, in consequence of which she was returned to the Treasury
Department.

Perry returned to Vera Cruz with the Mississippi early in
March, carrying with him orders to relieve Commodore Connor and
take command of the American fleet, which he did March 21, 1847,
and immediately thereafter a vigorous and aggressive policy was in-
augurated. General Winfield Scott's army had already landed and
begun the siege of Vera Craz, but found itself without ordnance
heavy enough to make much impression upon the city walls. To
General Scott's request for the loan of heavy guns from the fleet,
Perry refused, unless his own men might go with their guns, a con-
dition that Scott first declined, but when he fully realized that his

1 William E. Griffls ; "Biography of Matthew Calbraith Perry ; " p. 211.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 95

own batteries could not breach the walls he accepted it, and a heavy
battery of six guns with ship's mounts and picked crews was at once
landed and laboriously dragged through the sand in the night-time
Borne three miles to the spot where it was to be located for most
effective use. The earthwork defenses for this battery were laid
out by an engineer of General Scott's staff — Captain EobertE. Lee.
It may be interesting to mention that in the army before Vera Cruz
at this time, gaining experience for a far greater war, were the fol-
lowing named young officers: First Lieutenants James Longstreet,
P. G. T. Beauregard, John Sedgwick, and Earl Van Dorn, and
Second Lieutenants U. S. Grant, George B. McClellan, Fitz John
Porter, W". S. Hancock, and Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson.

After the installation of the naval battery the cannonading be-
came more deadly and furious, resulting in the surrender four days
later of the beleagured city. The details of this exploit are not es-
pecially pleasant for the American historian to dwell upon. The
Mexican general, Morales, had declined General Scott's summons
to surrender and had not availed himself of the privilege offered to
remove the inhabitants of the city before the bombardment began.
The fire of the heavy naval guns was directed successfully to the
breaching of the wall, but the army guns and mortars kept up an
incessant storm of shot, shell and bombs, rained over the walls into
the city. Ages ago Cicero established the maxim that "Laws are
silent in war," and the truth of this was well illustrated by the
tragedy of Vera Cruz. Whole families were destroyed in the ruins
of their shattered homes; women and children praying in an agony
of fear before the altars of their churches were torn and mangled
by bombs and shells crushing through the roofs; even the sepul-
chres of the dead were torn to pieces and the corpses scattered about
the streets. The damage done to combatants was small compared
with the horrors inflicted upon the wretched populace.

An exhibition of bravado in the fleet was the only touch of
comedy connected with the bombardment of Vera Cruz. The
famous stone castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, built by the Spaniards in
the 16th century at a cost of forty million dollars, stands in the
harbor about a mile in front of the city, and its fire soon proved a
serious annoyance to some of the investing batteries, the exact range
of which had been ascertained by repeated firing. To divert this

96 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE TOOTED STATES.

fire, Perry ordered Commander Tatnall in the steamer Spitfire to
approach and open fire on the castle. Tatnall, always disputatious,
asked for specific directions as to what point he should attack, to
which ' ' Ursa Major, ' ' as Perry was known behind his back, replied
not too gently, "Where you can do the most execution, sir!"
With this flea in his ear Tatnall proceeded with the Spitfire, in
company with the Yi/ssen, Commander Joshua R. Sands, to within a
stone's throw of the castle and opened furiously against its massive
walls. This close proximity probably saved the two little steamers,
for they were untouched, although the men on board were thoroughly
drenched with the water splashed over them by the storm of
cannon balls. The spectacle was exciting to the crews of the
on-looking ships, and ludicrous as well on account of its futility.
Perry, both amused and provoked at the exhibition of temper on
the part of his subordinate, made signal for the steamers to with-
draw, but Tatnall failed to see any signals, assuring the officer who
reported them that he was mistaken and was looking the wrong way.
It finally became necessary to endanger a boat's crew by sending it
to call him back, Mr. Wm. H. Shock, who was the engineer in
charge of the machinery of the Spitfire on this occasion, has stated
in a magazine article that when the vessels went out of action he
heard Tatnall say in tones of regret, "Not a man wounded or
killed."

After the fall of Vera Cruz, a combined army and naval expe-
dition was planned against Alvarado, the place that had previously
been proceeded against without results by Commodore Connor. The
chief object in gaining this town was to supply Scott's army with
animals for transportation in his projected invasion of Mexico,
horses being abundant in the Alvarado neighborhood. General
Quitman with a considerable force of artillery, cavalry and infan-
try, started overland, while Perry organized an expedition with
small steamers manned by picked men from the fleet to proceed
against the place by water. Lieutenant Charles GL Hunter in the
SGourge was directed to blockade the threatened town and report
the movements of the enemy to Captain Breese of the sloop-of-war
Albany. This young officer, observing signs of the enemf aban-
doning the town, landed some men and took possession of it, a very
presumptuous act when a general and a commodore had designs

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 97

upon the position and the honor of capturing it. Hunter was
promptly arrested by order of Commodore Perry, tried by court-
martial for disobedience of orders, and sent home in disgrace. In
the United States he was given many dinners and receptions, and as
"Alvarado Hunter" was the hero of the hour, while Perry was
made the target for a multitude of newspaper attacks. All of which
was natural enough on the part of the public, which saw nothing in
the affair except the capture of a town without regard for the rank
of the captor. As a matter of fact, by exceeding his authority
Hunter completely defeated the real object of the expedition; his
act forewarned the Mexicans and gave them ample time to remove
with their horses and portable property before the army forces had
hemmed them in.

The next naval operation of consequence in this war was Perry's
capture in June of the city of Tobasco, after severe fighting. This
is an important event in our naval history, as it is the first occasion
on which a large force of blue-jackets was regularly organized into a
naval brigade for prolonged military operations on shore, which was
done under the personal direction and command of Commodore
Perry. The necessity for this proceeding was brought about by
the circumstance that the marines of the fleet had been formed into
a regiment and sent with Scott's army on the march to the city of
Mexico. The year before, Commodore Stockton had used his sailors
to some extent for guard and garrison duty in California, but the
credit for the first real naval brigade is given to Perry by the his-
torians of our navy. The small steamers of the fleet were invalu-
able in the capture of Tobasco; in fact, without them the expedition
would hardly have been practicable. Commodore Perry so fully
appreciated the value of this type of vessel that he repeatedly asked
for more light-draft steamers from home, and eventually so pro-
voked the conservative old officers about the Navy Department that
he got a stiff reprimand from the Secretary of the Navy for his per-
sistence in this regard.

To First Assistant Engineer George Sewall is due credit for
having repaired in a most ingenious manner without any convenient
appliances the two steamers Vixen and Spitfire, which had become
unseaworthy and unfit for use owing to leaky Kingston valve con-
nections, thus giving to the Government two steamers for war
operations.

98 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Yellow fever broke out in July on the Mississippi, and that in-
valuable ship eventually had to be sent off the station, going to
Pensacola with about two hundred invalids on board. A short time
before the appearance of this pestilence a fire from spontaneous
combustion had gained such headway in the Mississippi's coal
bunkers that it was only extinguished by flooding the bunkers, and
it was believed that the moisture remaining in the nooks and corners
of the ship after this accident gave a foothold for the disease. Two
of the Mississippi's engineers — First Assistant Charles A. Mapes,
and Third Assistant Emerson G. Covel — died on board their ship
of this epidemic and were buried in the soil of Mexico.

General Scott entered the city of Mexico on the 17th of Sep-
tember, 1847, and that practically ended the war, although the
naval force continued the blockade of the coast until the treaty of
peace was signed the following February. Then the vessels were
gradually withdrawn, the larger ones to other stations and the small
purchased steamers were sold for what they would bring. The most
beneficial lesson to the navy derived from this war was that steamers
were vastly superior to sailing vessels for war purposes, and the
prejudice against the new motor were so broken down that naval
opposition to the policy of building war steamers was ma-
terially diminished thereafter, although not wholly extinguished.
The demonstrated value of the small steamers for river and harbor
operations had quite as much to do with bringing about this change
of sentiment as had the general utility exhibited by the Princeton
and Mississippi.

With the return of peace, the steam navy was augmented by the
transfer from the War Department of two steamers which had been
used for troop-ships. The larger of these was the Massachusetts, a
full-rigged ship of 750 tons burden with auxiliary steam power,
which had been bought in 1847 for $80,000. This ship had been
the pioneer in a line of auxiliary steam packets employed in the New
York and Liverpool trade, and was fitted with two small engines of
Ericsson's design, driving an Ericsson screw only 9£ feet in
diameter, the screw being attached to the shaft by a coupling that
could be disengaged and the screw hoisted on deck in a few min-
utes. The propeller shaft passed out of the stern at the side of the
stern post, to which was bolted the stern bearing of the shaft, the

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

latter projecting far enough to allow the screw to operate abaft the
rudder. The rudder had a slot, or " shark's mouth " cut in it to
prevent its striking the projecting shaft when put hard over. Both
the stern bearing attached to the post and the cut in the rudder were
features patented by John Ericsson. The Massachusetts was some
years afterward converted into a bark-rigged sailing vessel, and
under the name of FarraUones remained in the naval service until
after the Civil War, when she was sold.

The other transferred transport was the auxiliary steam bark
Edith, of 400 tons burden, which had Ericsson machinery of the
same type as that described in the case of the Massachusetts, She
had been in the East India trade and was on record as having made
the quickest voyage then known between Calcutta and Canton.
After being fitted for war purposes the Edith was sent on a cruise
to the Pacific station, where, in 1850, she was run ashore and
wrecked, but without loss of life.

The following list of engineers of the navy who served on
vessels actively employed in the Mexican War is made up from a
list given in General C. M. Wilcox's History of the Mexican War:

Chief Engineer John Faron, Jr.

" " D. B. Martin.

" " William Sewell.

First Assistant Engineer Saml. Archbold.

(( ((

((

L. S. Bartholomew.

11 u

E. G. Covel.

11 («

•

T. H. Faron.

11 11

Jesse Gay.

II u

((

J. K. Matthews.

ti u

Hiram Sanford.

11 it

((

George Sewell.

Second Assistant Engineer James Atkinson.

((

N. C. Davis.

Joshua Follansbee.

John Gallagher.

A. P. How.

■ 1

k 1

B. F. Isherwood.

1 1

R. M. Johnson.

100

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Second Assistant Engineer, J. M. Middleton.
" " " A. S. Palmer.

" " " Theodore Zeller.

Third Assistant Engineer J. M. Adams.

Lafayette Caldwell.
" John Carroll.
" Charles Coleman.
" Wm. E. Everett.
"• Edward Faron.

B. F. Garvin.

J. E. Hatcher.

J. W. King.
" William Luce.
" Charles A. Mapes.
" J. W. Parks.

W. H. Shock.

William Taggart.

J. C. Tennent.
" M. M. Thompson.
" J. A. Van Zandt.
11 Wm. C. Wheeler.
'* Edward Whipple.

u
u

The material benefits to the United States resulting from the
Mexican War were enormous,- and entirely out of proportion to the
outlay of life and treasure involved, notwithstanding it is difficult at
this distance in time for one to grow enthusiastic over the events of
that unequal struggle. Desperate battles were fought; many note-
worthy deeds of valor wore performed, and both army and navy
achieved that peculiar distinction called glory, but to the American
student of his country's history the fact that the military power of
our great republic was ruthlessly used to overwhelm with woe and
desolation a small sister republic struggling to maintain self-govern-
ment on the democratic principles professed by the nation which in-
flicted upon her the horrors of war, must ever remain prominent.
The cause of freedom had then enough to contend with, without th»»
greatest nation governed by its own people tearing to pieces a fee-
ble follower of its institutions.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 101

The territory of the United States was increased one-third by
the terms of the treaty 'which concluded the war, and a vast extent of
sea coast on the Pacific Ocean was gained. The benefits to our
country and to the world in general, resulting from this transfer of
territory cannot be over-estimated, and this, as a manifestation of
Providence forwarding the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race, must
be our chief apology for the manner in which that vast region
changed hands. California under Mexican rule gave little promise
for the future, but in the hands of the energetic and investigating
American became almost in a day both famous and wealthy. It
had long been known to the Mexicans of California that their rivers
ran over golden sands, but the indolent and ease-loving people pre-
ferred the shade of their haciendas to the labor of exploring the
mountains; manana or " the day after," would be ample time in which
to investigate, and thus the great discovery bade fair to be neglect-
ed for an indefinite time.

The prying American lost no time in exploring his new posess-
ions and within a year had proclaimed such wonderful discoveries
that ships freighted with tools and men were converging upon the
Golden Gate from every quarter of the globe ; steamship lines
before impossible, were established, and the transcontinental rail-
ways, which have hastened the development of the North American
continent and the civilization of the Far East at least a century,
were projected. It is a favorite statement of historians that the amount
of gold produced by California since 1848 exceeds in value the
enormous national debt incurred by the United States in the war
for the preservation of the Union. ^ Granting this to be true, and
admitting that the mineral wealth of the territory acquired from
Mexico is yet beyond computation, the greater truth remains that all
this is actually secondary in value to the wonderful agricultural
resources of the same region. But for the aggressive and perhaps
undemocratic policy which led the United States to despoil a
neighbor whose form of government should have been her defense,
California, with sources of wealth far greater than those possessed
by more than one empire which has ruled the world, might yet be
the hunting ground of hungry savages, her fields untilled, her
orchards unplanted, and the treasure of her streams and mountain
ledges still undisturbed save by the hoof of the antelope and the
paw of the bear.

OHAPTEEVIII.

"The wheel of fortune turns incessantly round, and who can say within
himself, ' I shall to-day be uppermost.' " — Confucius.

New steamers authorized for the navy in 1847— The Susquehanna, Powhatan,
Sakanac, and San Jacinto— Mr. Haswell Succeeded as Engineer-in-Chief
by Charles B. Stuart— Circumstances Connected with Mr. Haswell Leav-
ing the Navy— His Great Services to the Naval Engineer Corps— His Subse-
quent Career.

STEAM, as we have seen, did not play an important part in the
naval operations of the Mexican war, but the numerous oppor-
tunities and advantages lost or not used simply for lack of
motive power more reliable than the winds, served as excellent ob-
ject lessons to direct naval and public attention to the necessity of
having a fleet of steam war vessels if the navy were to be thereafter
a useful military arm. In the report of the Secretary of the Navy
for the year 1846 a policy of building war-steamers was urged, and
in December of that year Mr. Fairfield, Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Naval Affairs, asked the Department by letter for a
statement as to the size, type, cost, &c, of the vessels desired. The
reply was to the effect that at least four steamers, at an average
cost of $500,000 each should be immediately undertaken, and the
authority asked for was conferred by the naval appropriation bill
then under consideration, which was approved March 3, 1847. The
same act directed the Secretary of the Navy to enter into contract
with E. K. Collins and his associates for the transportation of the
United States mails between New York and Liverpool; with A. G.
Sloo for the transportation of the mails between New York and
New Orleans, touching at Havana, and with some other agent, not
named, for the transportation of the mails from Panama to Oregon
Territory. In the first two cases, the steamers of the contractors
were to be built under the supervision of a naval constructor and
were to be adapted to use as war vessels, the contractors being also
required by the terms of the act to receive on board each of their
steamers four passed midshipmen of the navy to act as watch offi-
cers.

THE STEAM NAVY OS1 THE UNITED STATES. 10S

Mr. John T. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, on March 22,
1847, ordered a board, consisting of Commodores Morris, Warring-
ton and Smith, Engineer-in-Chief Haswell, Naval Constructors
Grice, Lenthall and Hartt, and Mr. Charles W. Copeland, the emi-
nent civilian engineer employed by the Navy Department, to assem-
ble in Washington and determine upon the various features of the pro-
posed vessels, the order stating in general terms some of the require-
ments to be observed, and directing that one of the vessels " should
be propelled by some of the various screw propellers." Later,
Commodore Skinner and Chief Engineer John Faron, Jr. were ad-
ded to the board, which met at frequent dates from March 23 until
July 3, 1847, on which latter date its final report and recommenda-
tions were submitted to the Department. So many interesting
points arose later about the ships recommended by this board, and
such a bitter controversy grew out iof alleged defects in the design
of at least one of them that the matter eventually became the subject
of congressional inquiry, and its history in detail thus got into print
in the form of a public document — Executive Document 65 f House
of Kepresentatives, Thirty-third Congress; First Session: this docu-
ment the author has been fortunate enough to discover in that vast
mine of information almost inaccessibly buried in the crypt of the
Capitol, and from it the principal facts presented in this chapter are
derived.

The proceedings of the board indicate that the Mississippi was
regarded as a model from which to copy as much as possible. With-
out going into all the differences "of .opinion, lengthy debates, and
yea and nay votes indulged in by the commodores, constructors
and engineers of the board, it is sufficient to say the resultant
recommendations were the building of two large side- wheel steamers,
similar to the Mississippi, but sufficiently large to carry coal, provi-
sions, &c, for long voyages to foreign stations, and two smaller
steamers, of about 2, 100 tons displacement, one of the latter, to be
fitted with a screw propeller. Wood was designated as the material
from which these vessels were to be built, the vote of the Board
showing that Mr. Haswell was the only member who favored iron
as building material for even one of them. The board also decided
that Naval Constructors Grice and Lenthall should each design the
hull of one of the larger steamers and that Mr. Hartt should design

104 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

both of the smaller ones, Messrs. Haswell and Copeland each to de-
sign machinery for one large and one small vessel. All these rec-
ommendations were approved bf the Navy Department, and on the
13th of July, 1847, the Secretary promulgated the President's order
that the two large ships be built at Philadelphia and Norfolk respec-
tively, and the smaller ones at Kittery and New York.

The large steamer designed by Mr. Lenthall was named Sus-
queJtanna, and was built in the navy yard at Philadelphia, where she
was launched in April, 1850, and was entirely completed with ma-
chinery ready for service at the end of that year. She was bark-
rigged, 250 feet long, 45 feet beam and displaced 3,824 tons at
her load draft of 19£ feet. The engines, designed by Charles W.
Copeland, were built by Murray & Hazelhurst of Baltimore, under
the supervision of Chief Engineer Wm. P. Williamson, U. S. Navy,
and consisted of two inclined direct-acting condensing engines, With
cylinders 70 inches in diameter and 10 feet stroke, fitted with
inclined air pumps. The paddle wheels were of the ordinary radial
type, 31 feet in diameter. There were four copper boilers
of the double return, ascending flue type, containing 342 square
feet of grate surface and 8,652 square feet of heating surface.

In June, 1851, the Susquehantta sailed for the Asiatic station,
then known as the East India Station, her first commander being
Captain J. H. Aulick and her chief engineer Mr. Samuel Archboid.
On the passage to Rio de Janeiro some defects or injuries to her
engines and spars were discovered, resulting in a delay of some two
months at the Brazilian capital, during which time repairs to the ex-
tent of about $3,500 were made at the marine arsenal, mostly
to the air pumps and paddle-wheels. Her performance thereafter
was excellent, and most creditable «to her engineers, as may be seen
from the following report of the commanding officer, which report
is of special interest in these days when we rather pride ourselves
on our ability to crosB wide seas under steam without an extravagant
use of fuel, showing that the men of a previous generation were not
wholly ignorant of the same desirable experience:

U, S. Steam Fmgate Susquehanna,
Tabus Bay, Cape of Good Hope, October 17, 1851.

Bra: I have the honor to report our arrival here on th6 15th
jostant, eighteen days from Bio de Janeiro.

THE STEAM NAYT OF THE UNITED STATES. 10r

This passage has thoroughly and severely tested the strength
of our masts and engines. The weather for the greater part of the
time was very stormy, and the sea higher than I have ever known
it before, causing the ship to roll and plunge to such a degree that
frequently one wheel was eight or ten feet entirely clear of the sea,
when the other was full half its diameter buried in it; but nothing
of any importance gave way, and the engines were never stopped
from the time we weighed our anchor in "Rio;" until it was let go
in this bay. I, however, did not neglect to use our sails and econ-
omize fuel; when the wind was fair, and the weather permitted,
we used only two boilers, and with a daily expenditure of less than
fourteen tons of coal, keeping up only sufficient steam to turn our
wheels, we averaged for a number of days more than two hundred
miles in the twenty-four hours. I adopted this course in preference
to taking off the floats, for the reason that it is very difficult, if not
impossible, to un-ship and re-ship them in a heavy seaway. We ex-
pended on the passage only about half the coal with which we left
"Rio." I am, &c,

J. H. Auliok,
Commanding Squadron, East Indies and China.
Hon. William A. Geaham, Secretary of the Navy,
Washington, D. C.

The Susquehanna continued an efficient cruising steamer for
many years, and was a prominent ship during the war of the rebel-
lion; a few years after its close her machinery was entirely removed
and the work of converting her into a screw steamer undertaken, but
never completed, and she never went to sea again.

Constructor Grice's steamer was the JPowhatan, launched at
the Norfolk navy yard .February 14, 1850. The principal dimen-
sions of the hull were practically the same as those of the Susque-
hanna, but as her load draft when completed was about a foot less
than that of the latter vessel, her displacement was also somewhat
less; she was bark-rigged. The engines were designed by Engineer-
in-Chief Haswell and were built by Mehaffy & Co., of Gosport,
Va., under the inspection of Chief Engineer William Sewell, U. S.
Navy. There were two inclined direct-acting condensing engine;
with the same cylinder dimensions as those of the Susqeuhanna, b,n

106

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

differing from that vessel in design, having vertical air pumps and
a novelty in engine framing, the frames being of wrought iron, built
up on the box-girder principle. There were four copper boilers of
the same general dimensions as those of the sister ship, but differ-
ing from them considerably in details of arrangement, fittings, etc.
The lower flues were made elliptical to increase the heating surface.

COPPER BOILER, U. S. S. POWHATAN; ASCENDING-FLUE RETURN TYPE.

Length, 16 feet; breadth, 15 feet 3 inches; height, 13 feet; grate surface, 88| square
feet; heating surface, 1,971 square feet.

A new feature in marine engineering practice appeared in this ves-
sel in the introduction of a small one-furnace auxiliary boiler, inten-
ded primarily for supplying a hoisting engine to aid in coaling ship.
The Powhatan also was fitted with two Worthington steam pumps,
which is believed to be the first appearance in our navy of that now
familiar auxiliary.

Owing to a lack of professional and clerical aid, Engineer-in-
Ohief Haswell personally designed every detail of the Powhatan's
machinery and made the working drawings with his own hands in
the intervals between attention to the necessary duties of his office.
So pressed was he for time that he was unable to lay out a general
design of the engines to work up to, but had to develop the various
parts progressively. This feat is probably unprecedented in design-
ing work of such magnitude, and, considered together with the re-
markable success of the Powhatan's engines, furnishes a most valu-
able index to the rare professional accomplishments of Mr. Haswell.

■:■>

>■

'/i

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 109

The Powhatan was employed in service, almost continously
for a longer period than any steamer ever in the navy, with
the sole exception of the Michigan, which latter vessel owes her
longevity, as has been pointed out before, to the fact that her career
has been confined to summer cruising on the fresh-water lakes of the
Northwest. The copper boilers of the Powhatan of course had to
be replaced in time, but her original engines remained thoroughly
efficient *and trustworthy to the end, a monument to the ability of
their designer and the skill of the men who built them. When the
Powhatan was attached to the Japan expedition squadron, her chief
engineer, George Sewell, wrote home that in a trip of three thou-
sand miles under steam a hammer had not been touched to her en-
gines, which ran with such rhythmic regularity that they seemed set
to music.

Even in her old age the Powhatan was a faster steamer than
almost any other on the navy list and was decidedly the most com-
fortable and popular with both officers and men. With ten pounds
of steam and her great wheels making ten revolutions per minute
she was proverbially capable of making ten knots an hour, and that
without much reference to the state of the weather. In 1878, after
she had outlived almost every steamer of her date, she fought for
her lite off Hatteras, under the command of that splendid old sea-
man, Captain T. S. Fillebrown, through one of the most awful cy-
clones that any ship ever survived, and though terribly battered
and strained, remained able to breast the sea for several years there-
after. In that storm it is reported by the indisputable evidence of
many observers that her fore yard-arm dipped into the sea. In
1887, to the genuine regret of all in the navy, the Powhatan was
condemned by a board of survey, being actually worn out in the ser-
vice, and an unsentimental administration s°ld her poor old bones to the

ghouls of the ocean — the ship-breakers.

One of the two smaller vessels was built at the navy yard at
Kittery, Maine, and named Saranac. She was the first of the
four steamers to be completed, being launched in November, 1848,
and sailed for a cruise in the West Indies in April, 1850. £>he was
216 feet long, 38 feet beam, and of 2,200 tons displacement at the
mean draft of 17 feet. The machinery, designed by Engineer
CopeJand, was built by Coney & Co. of Boston, under the inspec-

110 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

tion of Chief Engineers ¥m. W. W. Wood and D. B. Martin, and
consisted of a pair of inclined direct-acting condensing engines with
cylinders 60 inches in diameter and 9 feet stroke, driving radial
paddle-wheels 27 feet in diameter. The engines were fitted with
Stevens' patent cut-offs. There were three copper double-return
drop-flue boilers, designed to carry twelve pounds of steam pressure,
aggregating 188 square feet of grate surface and 5,127 square feet
of heating surface. At an ordinary engine speed of about twelve
revolutions per minute about eight knots an hour could easily be
maintained. The rig was that of a bark, and her lines were so grace-
ful and the external finish so perfect that she was regarded as an or-
nament to the service. After a long career for a war vessel the
Saranac came to a violent end in June, 1875, by running ashore and
becoming a total wreck in Seymour Narrows, while on her way to
Alaska.

The fourth one of these steamers — the Scm Jacinto — was, like
the wrath of Achilles, " the direful spring of woes unnumbered, " to
almost everyone ever prominently connected with her, her campaign
of destruction beginning with blasting the naval career of Engi-
neer-in-Chief Haswell. Designed by the same constructor, Mr.
Hartt, who designed the Saranao, the hull was an exact counterpart
of that vessel, and the rig was the same. She was built at the navy
yard, New York, where she was launched in April, 1850. The en-
gines were designed by Mr. Haswell and were built by Merrick and
Towne of Philadelphia, under the inspection at different times of
Chief Engineers Earon, Wood and Hunt, and finally Mr. Haswell
himself. They consisted of two ' ' square ' ' engines, as they were
termed, operating the shaft of a screw propeller; the cylinders were
62f inches in diameter and 50 inches stroke, and were placed
athwartship, inclined upward and outboard with the inner, or lower
heads, in contact over the crank shaft. Long cross-heads carried
two connecting rods for each engine, reaching backward and down-
ward on each side of the cylinders to take hold of the cranks. There
were three copper boilers of the same external dimensions as those
of the /S(fvr<mac, but somewhat better designed, as they displayed
more grate and heating surface.

There were some strange things about this ship, one of which,
was the location of the propeller shaft twenty inches to one side of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 113

the center line of the keel, which was done at the instance of the
three naval constructors, members of the board that settled upon
the plans for the vessel. These gentlemen were eminent in the
business of ship designing and building, but screw-propelled ships
were new to them and they could not bring themselves to agree to
any application of steam power that involved cutting a big hole for
a shaft through the stern post. It transpired that Ericsson, who had
patents on a multitude of marine appliances, useful and other-
wise, had a patent on a precisely similar arrangement. This loca-
tion entailed the projection of the propeller shaft far enough beyond
the stern to allow the screw to work abaft the rudder, which plan
Mr. Haswell had opposed in the Board, but made his designs in ac-
cordance when it was finally decided upon. The board also fixed
the location of the engines so far aft and in such a cramped space
that the engineer who had to design them was so handicapped that
f it was practically impossible for him to arrive at an arrangement of
details that would allow proper room for examination, repairing and
adjustment of the machinery when assembled in place. The screw
itself as designed was a ponderous six bladed affair, five feet wide
axially and weighing some seven tons, which weight, overhanging
the stern five feet at least, was manifestly a menace to the safety of
the ship. Mr. Haswell claimed, and with propriety as the records
of tlie Board show, that he was forced to such a design by the
board's exaction that no patents be infringed, and the lighter types
of screws then in use, having thin supported blades, were covered
by Ericsson's patents.

As the engines of the San Jacinto approached completion it be-
gan to be gossiped abroad among engineers that the engineer-in-
chief had made a fearful botch of his designs, and the various naval
engineers and machinery contractors who fancied they had been
wronged by him in the fearless performance of his official duties, ac-
cording to his conscientious judgment, gathered their forces for his
overthrow, the movement being simply a manifestation of the natural
tendency of mankind to assail and humble the eminent. In a prim-
itve state of society, man kills his rival with a club and eats him,
partly in revenge, partly to remove an obstacle to his ambition, and
partly to provide subsistence for himself. As we become enlightened,
the older and more natural code of ethics is abandoned in deferenc

114 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

to certain artificial prejudices which are adjuncts of civilization, and
■while less rude are equally effective methods of personal warfare.
This seems to he a necessity, for the natural predilection of man is
a love of hostility to his species, as exhibited in personal rivalries
and jealousies when a state of war does not afford an outlet for his
passions under the guise of patriotism.

Such a condition of society may be sad to contemplate in these
closing years of the nineteenth century, and there are doubtless
many who are thoughtlessly ready to controvert the proposition. A
little reflection, however, will be convincing to the majority; for as
wejook about the world it appears that in spite of all the doctrines
of peace and good-will to man, promulgated by the apostles of Chris-
tianity and other great religions, there does not and never has exis-
ted, the nation large enough to permit of the harmonious existence
within its borders at the same time, two great statesmen, soldiers,
or others of the same calling ; nor is • there a village so small that
two carpenters, shoemakers or blacksmiths within its limits fail to
become rivals, each claiming his fellow craftsman to be incompetent
and an imposter. Even the clergy, the anointed iapostles of the
doctrine of peace, take delight in bitter quarrels of creed, or, failing
in" opportunities for that, turn upon each other in the same denomi-
tion and institute heresy trials, and critical inquisitions regarding
their profession of faith.

Unpalatable as it maybe, it is nevertheless a plain, unvarnished
truth that fondness for war and strife is an instinct inherent in the
human breast. Without this instinct success in any under-
taking is well-nigh impossible, as society is at present consti-
tuted. Nothing proves this more clearly than the history of
nations, which, when analyzed, are simply tales of the con-
tention of individuals striving for supremacy. He who becomes
foremost in any walk in life must succeed at the expense of his fel-
lows who are struggling for the same eminence, and it is literally
"to him that overcometh, " who, according to Revelation, "shall
be given power over the nations."

Eeturning to the subject, after this digression, it must be ad-
mitted that there were some radically bad features connected with
the design of the San Jacinto's machinery, but the assertions freely
made at the time that the engines were an " object of ridicule to all

Mk. Charles B. Stuart,
Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy, December 1, 1850, to June 30, 1853.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 117

engineers who have seen them," and a " standing monument of Mr.
Haswell's incompetency and folly," were more ridiculous in view
of Haswell's reputation and achievements as an engineer than any
defect in these engines could possibly have been. Some of the
faults of the San Jacinto's engines were forced upon the designer
by conditions imposed by superior authority and were as well
known to him as they could have been to any of his critics,
while many of the other alleged defects existed chiefly in the minds
of those who had decided the time had come to thrust him from the
pedestal he occupied above all other scientific engineers of his time.

The hue and cry had its effect, and late in November, 1850,
the President appointed Mr. Charles B. Stuart of New York to the
office of engineer-in-chief of the Navy from December 1st, Mr. Has-
well resuming his place at the head of the list of chief engineers.
Mr. Stuart was a civil engineer of prominence, being the superin-
tendent of the Erie Canal at the time of his appointment, and made
no pretense to knowledge of marine engineering, though he acquired
considerable knowledge by experience while engineer-in-chief. "FTjh
was purely a political appointment as a reward for party service,
and he never was an enrolled member of the naval engineer corps.
Some serious engineering mistakes, which have been or will be
noted in these pages, occurred in the navy during his administra-
tion, the result of which was that when he resigned, after an occu-
pancy of his office for two years and a half, the custom was adopted
of selecting the engineer-in-chief from the chief engineers of the
navy, who were familiar with the service and the peculiarities of its
steam vessels. While engineer-in-chief, Mr. Stuart performed good
service for the engineering world by collecting the necessary data
and publishing two remarkably valuable and reliable books on naval
material — "The Naval Dry Docks of the United States," and "The
Naval and Mail Steamers of the United States."

The day after Mr. Stuart's induction into office, Mr. Haswell
was ordered to assume the duty of superintendent of the installation
of the San Jacinto's machinery, and Chief Engineer B. F. Isher-
wood, who before entering the naval service had been associated
with Mr. Stuart in the civil engineering work of the Erie canal, was
detached from duty under the Light House Board and ordered as
technical assistant to the engineer-in- chief . ^ Shortly thereafter, let-

118

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ters expressing grave doubts about tbe San Jacinto were sent by
the engineer- in-chief to the chief of the bureau of construction, and
requests made that a survey be held before the work of completing
the ship was allowed to go further. As a result, a board consisting
of Chief engineers Wm. P. Williamson, Wm. Sewell and Henry
Hunt, provided with a categorical list of fifteen questions', the ans-
wers to which, it was snpposed would damn the machinery of the
San Jacinto, was assembled at New York to examine the vessel
and report discoveries, a report being made February 10, 1851. It

PROPOSED PROPELLER.

Diameter, 14J feeet.
Pitch, 35 to 39 feet.

APOTTED PROPELLER.

Diameter, 14J feet.
Pitch, 40 to 45 feet

was decidely unfavorable to the engines in general, and especially
severe in regard to the heavy projecting propeller and the side loca-
tion of the shaft, both of which objectionable features were recom-
mended for alteration. The propeller was altered accordingly, it
so happening that the one originally designed had not yet been cast,
although its mold was completed; the modified screw, as recommen-
ded by the Board and designed by Mr. Isherwood, together with
the one originally designed being represented by the outline sketches
here inserted.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 119

The shaft passage through the stern having been cut, the rec-
ommendation of the board of engineers regarding its modification
was not carried out. It has been previously noted that Captain
Ericsson had a patent on such an arrangement and he, through an
attorney promptly made claim for infringement; the claim was
T-eferred to Engineer-in-Ohief Stuart for an opinion, and that official
made a most lengthy report, acknowledging in rather indirect terms
that the shaft arrangement was practically the same as that described
in the specification of Ericsson's patent and was therefore an
infringement for which the patentee was entitled to damages.
Besides this question, which was the only real point raised by
Ericsson's claim, the engineer-ih-chief dilated upon other features
of the San Jacinto's machinery involved very indirectly, if at all,
in the claim, and of course proved they were not infringements,
the object of this digression being apparently to make an occasion
to reflect upon the machinery designs of the ex-engineer-in-chief,
which reflection was introduced into the report somewhat neatly by
the following sentence: " I cannot discover that the construction of
the > engines ' of the San Jacmto involves the infringement of Cap-
tain Ericsson's patent in any particular, nor do I think he would
upon inspection of them, make any claim for the ' novelties ' intro-
duced in their construction."

The chief of the bureau of Construction was unable to extract
any conclusions from the mass of verbiage with which the engineer-
in-chief 's opinions were clothed, and returned the report to him as
being "too indefinite to authorize a settlement of the question.'1
In replying to this, Mr. Stuart did himself no great credit by saying
that if the report was indefinite it was ' ' owing to the extreme illness
under which I was suffering at the time of writing the report. ' ' This
oxcuse, taken into consideration with the uncalled-for comments
injected into the original report, has been conclusive proof to the
author in his patient investigation of this case, that professional zeal
was not the only motive that inspired the engineer-in-chief, and that
in his effort to disparage his predecessor he rather stultified himself.
Chief Engineer Haswell, not giving satisfaction as an inspector
of machinery to the new administration of the steam department,
was eventually relieved from that duty and placed on waiting
orders, the San Jacmto being completed and fitted for sea under

120 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

the supervision of Chief Engineer Henry Hunt. When the ship
was ready for sea, Mr. Haswell was ordered to her, his orders being
brought about by the following recommendation, which explains
itself fully as to animus and motives :

Office of the Engineer-in-Chief, U. S. N.,
August 25, 1851.

Sib : I respectfully recommend that chief engineer Henry
Hunt be detached from the United States steamer San Jacinto,
and ordered ;to the United States steamer Fulton ; and that chief
engineer Charles H. Haswell, now waiting orders at New York, be
ordered to the United States steamer San Jacinto.

The propriety of the above recommendations will be obvious
from the following considerations :

The machinery, of the San Jacinto was designed by Mr.
Haswell, and has been executed (with the exception of the propeller)
in conformity with those designs. Upon my acceptance of the office
of engineer-in-chief, the machinery of the San Jacinto was one of
the first things that came under my notice, and struck me so entirely
unfavorably, that I reported my opinion to the bureau, with the
recommendation that a board of chief engineers be ordered to
examine it, and report their opinion. The bureau acted on this
recommendation, and the resulting report of the board completely
sustained my own views ; their condemnation of the engines and
propeller was full and unlimited, while, with a view to save the
vessel from utter failure, the board proposed a new propeller of such
proportions as the mal-design of the machinery had rendered neces-
sary. This report was approved by the bureau, the new propeller
was made in conformity with it, and is at present fitted to the vessel
now about completed.

As the professional reputation of Mr. Haswell is involved in
the performance of the machinery of this vessel, the propriety of
sending him to sea in charge of it, instead of in charge of chief
engineer Hunt, who was one of the board that condemned it, is too
apparent for argument.

Furthermore, the Fulton has machinery designed by me, and

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 121

executed in conformity with my instructions ; and as it is necessary,
owing to the limited number of chief engineers in the service, that
Mr. Haswell be ordered either to the San Jacinto or Fulton, as he is
the only chief engineer unemployed, the impropriety of putting
him in charge of machinery designed by one who was compelled by
his position and sense of duty to the disagreeable task of ■'pointing
out the defects of, and condemning Mr. Haswell's machinery, can-
not fail to be properly appreciated.

Independently of the above considerations, the health of Mr.
Hunt is such as to utterly incapacitate him for a long cruise, while
he is sufficiently able to perform the short runs which will probably
constitute the chief duty of the Fulton.

I have, therefore, in justice and delicacy to all parties, to con-
clude with the suggestion that the detachment of Mr. Hunt from the
San Jacinto and ordering to the Fulton, and the ordering of Mr.
Haswell to the San Jacinto, be made, to take effect on the 15th
September next, which will give sufficient time for the performance
of the trial trip of the San Jacinto, and the putting her in the hands
of Mr. Haswell with her machinery in complete order.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully your obedient
servant.

Chas. B. Stuaet,

Engineer-in-Chief.
Per B. F. Ishebwood,
Chief Engineer,
Com. Chas. Wm. Skinneb,

Chief of Bureau of Construction, &c.

At that time Mr. Haswell was a confirmed invalid from a
torpid liver and chronic dyspepsia, which caused his subjection to
a medical survey, two of the three members of the medical board
reporting him unfit for sea service. When this report reached the
Department the Secretary was absent and the Secretary of "War was
acting in his stead; that official, although he had said in private
conversation that Mr. Haswell was unfit for service, inadvertantly
signed a dissent from the decision of the medical board, which the
chief clerk, had laid before him with all the letters of the day. As
soon as the San Jacinto was put in commission, the surgeon reported

122 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Mr. Haswell as being unfit for sea duty, and not long afterward the
surgeon and his assistant joined in a report to the same effect. No
notice of these reports being taken, Mr. Haswell wrote to Commo-
dore Morris, with whom he had been associated for several years,
saying that he would be forced to resign on account of his health,
but he was dissuaded from that by the commodore obtaining from
the. Secretary of the Navy a promise that in case the chief engineer's
health did not improve by the time the vessel arrived at Gibraltar
he would be invalided home, upon which assurance Mr. Haswell
agreed to remain in the ship.

When the ship was about to sail, the surgeon and commanding
officer both reported that Mr. Haswell was unable to proceed,
and he, fearing that his friend, Commodore Morris, would think
he had been instrumental in obtaining these reports, and thus
had broken faith both with him and the agreement with the Secre-
tary as to his remaining in the ship, telegraphed to Commodore
Morris that the reports were not made at his instance. The com-
modore went to the Secretary, who was in the act of signing the
order relieving Haswell from duty, and by exhibiting the tele-
gram convinced him that the detachment was unnecessary. In this
manner it happened that from an over sensitiveness regarding the
estimate of his integrity he remained in the ship, and the misunder-
standing of the telegram lost him his detachment, and in the end
his commission as well. Three days after the vessel sailed he was
put on the sick list and relieved from duty. Upon the arrival of
the vessel at Cadiz he proceeded to Gibraltar to get the necessary
orders for detachment from the commander-in-chief of the station,
in accordance with the promise of the Secretary of the Navy, bat
that officer declined to take any action in the matter.

Sick, relieved from duty, denied the immunity of four reports
of surgeons as to his physical unfitness, the promise of the Secretary
of the Navy ignored, disgusted with his treatment, and mentally
depressed, Chief Engineer Haswell left his ship on his own respons-
ibility and returned to his own country, for which act, regardless
of his past invaluable services for the steam navy, he was drop-
ped from the rolls of the navy, the date of this action of the
Department being May 14, 1852. Some years later (in 1859) the
President at the close of a session of Congress sent his name to the

THR STKAM NAVY QF THE UN1TKD STATES. 123

Senate for confirmation as a chief engineer in his former pot jirion,
but Congress adjourned before the nomination was reached, and Mr.
Haswell made no effort to have the matter revived, as he was very
profitably employed at the time.

The engineer corps owes much to Mr. Haswell as its organizer
and steady champion, and we of thiB day cannot but wonder at the
great progress he made considering his limited official power and
the intense prejudice he had to struggle against. Not only were
many of the most influential of the old naval officers bitterly
opposed to the invasion of Bteam into the domain they regarded as
their own, but at least one Secretary of the Navy shared the same
conservative sentiment. Mr. Secretary Paulding, who ruled the
Navy Department when the steam navy was very yonng, set naval
progress back a number of years by blocking the attempts to intro-
duce the new power. In his diary he complained of being steamed
to death, and wrote that he " never would consent to see our grand
old ships supplanted by these new and ugly sea-monsters," the
sea-monsters referred to especially being the beautiful steamers
Mississippi and Missouri.

Mr. Haswell was master of the engineering science of his time
and fully appreciated the magnitude of the change in naval methods
meant by the introduction of steam, never missing an opportunity
to teach and preach his belief. Without having any faith in Lieu-
tenant Hunter's scheme of submerged propulsion, he nevertheless
gave that officer much aid in his projects and furnished him with
designs for machinery simply because Hunter needed steam, and
his vessels, although fore-doomed to failure, were still additions to
the steam navy. Captain Stockton, also, found in him a staunch
supporter, always ready to supply professional facts and arguments
in refutation of the many objections raised by the old conservatives
against Stockton's scheme for a war-steamer.

Especially fortunate was Mr, Haswell in being associated with
Captain M. C. Ferry at the beginning of his naval career, for in
him he found a friend of his profession and a supporter broad-
minded enough to realize that a new era in naval construction had
dawned, and that the interests of the naval service demanded its
recognition to the subordination of all the prejudices of the past.
To quote from Captain Ferry's biographer, he, "first, last, and

124 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

always honored the engineer and believed in his eqnal possession,
■with the line officers, of all the soldierly virtues, notwithstanding
that the man at the lever, out of sight of the enemy, must needs
lack the thrilling excitement of the officers on deck. He felt that
courage in the engine-room had even a finer moral strain than the
more physically exciting passions of the deck. ' '

As this is probably the last appearance in this history of the
eminent engineer who was the first leader and pioneer of the naval
engineer corps, except by occasional reference to his works, it is
fitting that this chapter should close with a brief review of his
career and achievements,

Charles H. Haswell was born in the city of New York in the
year 1809, and from earliest youth exhibited a decided talent for
mechanical investigations and pursuits, having at the age of fifteen
constructed a small fire-engine and later a steam engine of such
excellence that both were readily disposed of to pecuniary advan-
tage. After receiving a classical education, he entered upon the
calling to which his natural bent directed by entering the employ of
the engineering establishment of James P. Allaire of New York,
where he developed into a thorough competent theoretical and
practical mechanical engineer. In 1836, when twenty-seven years
of age, and with the reputation of being one of the best scientific
engineers in New York, he was appointed by the Navy Depart-
ment as superintending engineer and later chief engineer of the
steamer Fulton, his naval career in connection with that vessel and
others having already been told. "While connected with the Fulton
at the New York navy yard Mr. Haswell (in 1837) lengthened the
gig of the sloop-of-war Ontario and fitted in it a small engine and
boiler with which the boat was run about the harbor; this was
undoubtedly the first successful essay of a steam launch, notwith-
standing the many claims that have been put forth regarding the
origin of that useful application of steam.

In 1846, while engineer-in- chief of the navy, Mr. Haswell con-
ceived the idea of placing zinc slabs in marine boilers to divert
oxidation from their plates and had zinc placed in the boilers of the
Princeton that year for the same purpose. He also had zinc placed
in the hold of an iron steamer, the Legare of the Eevenue Marine
fleet, with the same object in view. This use of zinc was nearly
thirty years before it was tried in England as a new invention.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 125

Since leaving the naval service in 1852, Mr. Haswell has been
actively engaged in the professions of civil and mechanical engine-
ering in his native city. He has been a Member and President of
the Common Council of the city of New York; a trustee of the New
York and Brooklyn bridge; Surveyor of steamers for Lloyd's and
the Underwriters of New York, Boston and Philadelphia; Consult-
ing Engineer for the Health Department, Quarantine Commission,
and Department of Public Charities and Correction of New York;
etc., etc. He designed and superintended the construction of the
long crib at Hart's Island, and the filling in of Hoffman's Island
and the erection of buildings on same; designed and superintended
many commercial steamers, foundations for some of the heaviest
buildings in New York, tests of water works plants, etc. One of his
greatest works is the volume of rules and formula pertaining to
mathematics, mechanics and physics, compiled in the engineer's
handbook that bears his name, a book so invaluable that it has
reached its fifty-ninth edition and has won the name of the
"Engineer's Bible. " Mr. Haswell is an honorary life member of
the American Society of Naval Engineers ; a member of the
American Society of Civil Engineers; the Institution of Civil
Engineers, and the Institution of Naval Architects of England; the
Engineer's Club of Philadelphia, the New York Academy of
Sciences, the American Institute of Architects, the New York
Microscopical Society, etc., etc.

CHAPTEK IX.

' ; ■"■ "Into the city of Kambalu,

By the road that leadeth to Ispahan
At the head of his dusty caravan,
Laden with treasures from realms afcu.
Baldacca and Kelat and Kandahar,
Bode the great captain Alau."

— Longfellow.

The Expedition to Japan and Treaty with That Country— Services of Engi-
neers in the Expedition — Value of Steamers in Impressing the Japanese— Other
Naval Affairs in the Far East.

THE opening of the ports of Japan to the world's commerce was
one of the direct sequences of the settlement of California by
citizens of the United States, for the latter event was accompanied
with an immediate marine traffic in the Pacific and this in turn
demanded the establishment of coaling ports, harbors of refuge, and
other necessities to navigation on all the shores of that ocean. An
extensive trade with China already existed, and the American whale-
fisheries in Asiatic waters gave employment to ten thousand men
and represented an investment of seventeen million dollars. The
march of commercial progress demanded that the veil of mystery
and exclusiveness so long drawn over the Japanese islands be re-
moved and the coasts of that country be opened and free to the
world's shipping. The only port in Japan where foreigners were
allowed to touch was Nagasaki in the southern part of the empire,
where a Dutch trading station was permitted to exist under almost
penal conditions, allowing annual visits from a single ship, bringing
goods for exchange. To this place, any sailors who might be ship-
wrecked on the Japanese coast, and they were numerous, were
conveyed and kept in close confinement until the time arrived for
sending them out of the country by the Dutch merchantman.

In 1849, Commander James Glynn, U. S. Navy, in the brig
Preble visited Nagasaki to demand the release of some American
sailors known to be imprisoned there, and succeeded in his mission
although not without much difficulty, as the authorities were very

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 127

loth to have anything to do with a foreigner, other than the lonely
dutch trader. While there, Glynn made a careful study of Japanese
affairs and when he returned to the United States early in L851 he
represented to the Navy Department that the time was ripe for
either forcing or flattering Japan into the brotherhood of nations,
urging furthermore that he be sent on a diplomatic mission with
that object in view. The idea was well received, but when steps
were taken to organize a squadron sufficiently large to lend force
and dignity to the expedition, Glynn found himself speedily out-
ranked, and had to step aside for his seniors who commanded larger
ships; to him, however, belongs the credit for beginning the move-
ment which ended in the great triumph of Matthew 0. Perry. In
June, 1851, Commodore Aulick, commissioned by Secretary of
State, Daniel Webster to negotiate a treaty with Japan, sailed for
the East India station in the new side-wheel steamer Susquehanna,
some of the details of this first voyage having been related in a former
chapter.

Soon after arriving on the station; late in the year, Commodore
Aulick was abruptly recalled, being temporarily relieved by Com-
mander Franklin Buchanan of the flagship and later by Commodore
M. C. Perry. The direct cause for Aulick's detachment was
alleged violation of naval orders in having taken his son to sea with
him as a passenger, and for having stated that he had been obliged
to defray the expense of carrying the Brazilian minister, Macedo,
from the United States to his own country. Commodore Aulick's
friends asserted that Perry had deliberately undermined him, and
the subject became one of those factional controversies which have
from time to time become notorious in our naval annals. The fact
that Perry had for some time been making a study of matters relat-
ing to Japan and its people, gave strength to the charge that he had
sacrificed a brother captain to his own ambition, but it is also a
matter of official record that he was at the same time an applicant
for the command of the Mediterranean squadron and felt himself
aggrieved when ordered to the Far East. His biographer publishes
a long letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, dated Decem-
ber 3, 1851, in which Perry speaks of the command of the Medit-
erranean squadron as his fondest ambition, and objects to the pro-
posed detail to Japan on the ground that it would be a degradation

128 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

in rank for him to relieve Aulick who had served nnder him in a
squadron some years before. This seems to clear Commodore
Perry of any charge of double-dealing in the matter; at any rate the
quarrel has no place in this book, and would not be referred to
were it not necessary for the sake of thoroughness, to outline the
steps leading up to, what may be fairly considered, the proudest
achievement of the American navy.

On the 24:th of January, 1852, Perry received orders to assume
command of the East India squadron, and he at once began vigor-
ously to make all necessary preparations for impressing the Japan-
ese with the power and resources of the nation whose friendship they
were asked to accept. His steam favorite the Mississippi was
given for his flagship, and in compliance with his urgent request
that he have more steamers, the Princeton and Alleghany, both
then under extensive repairs, were promised. The mishaps to these
vessels and their eventual failure to become part of the expedition
are matters that have already been told. Perry had coal and ships'
stores sent out in sailing vessels and by appealing to the mechanical
industries of the country he made a vast collection of the imple-
ments of civilization with which to demonstrate to the Japanese
the benefits they would derive from intercourse with foreign nations.
Among other things he had a small locomotive and car, with rails
to lay a circular track upon which to operate; agricultural machin-
ery, telegraphic instruments, arms, sewing machines, printing
presses, metal-working machinery, tools of various kinds, and all
sorts of labor saving appliances. In a word, Perry drew upon the
field of the engineer for his most potent arguments, and ' by that
sign he conquered a peace that never could have been achieved by
mere show of force or use of arms.

Wearied of delays, Perry finally sailed from Norfolk with only
the Mississippi on the 24th of November, 1852, and proceeded to
his station by way of Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, arriving
at Hong Kong on the 6th of April, 1853, and at Shanghai on May
4th. His flag was transferred to the Susquehanna on May 17, that
vessel being the designated flagship of the squadron. Before going
to the principal Japanese islands a visit was made to the Eiu Kin
,(also spelled Lew Chew and Loo Choo) and the Bonin islands. At
.Napa in ftiu Kiu the telegraphic, photographic, and other appliances

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 129

■were tested to make sure that no failures would occur later. The
artist, Mr. Brown, who had charge of the daguerrotype outfit, not
being a specialist in that particular art, had some trouble in his pre-
liminary work and called to his aid Third Assistant Engineer
Edward D. Kobie of the Mississippi, who from a love for scientific
matters had made bimself an expert in this art. He succeeded at
his first attempt with the apparatus, and took what is supposed to
be the first daguerrotype ever made in the far east ; it being a
picture of Commodore Ferry standing at the gateway of a native
temple. Perry was delighted with Eobie's work and remarked to
him, "I believe that you engineers can do anything."

Finally the squadron, then consisting of the steamers Missis-
sippi and Susquehanna and the sailing sloops of war Saratoga and
Plymouth, proceeded northward and on the 7th of July entered
Teddo Bay and came to anchor off the village of Uraga. Foreign
ships were no curiosity in those waters even then. Seven years
before, Commodore Biddle with the ship-of-the-line Columbus and
sloop-of-war Vmeennes had visited the same spot, in the hope of
securing permission for his countrymen to trade, but was turned
away with a positive refusal. Many whalers and merchant vessels
had been there, sometimes seeking in vain for commercial inter-
course with the people; sometimes driven in by stress of weather to
be refused a harbor of refuge, and sometimes on errands of mercy
bringing home Japanese waifs picked up adrift at sea in their junks.
In 1848 foreign shipping in the seas about Japan had so increased
that the fact was noted as a remarkable phenomenon by the native
chroniclers, and in 1850 it had been made a matter of grave report
to the great officials of the empire that no less than eighty-six of the
"black ships of the i-jim," had been counted passing MatsumaS
within the space of a single year.

If foreign ships were familiar objects, steamers were not,
for Perry's two steam frigates were the first craft of the kind to be
seen in Japanese waters and their appearance excited the utmost
consternation among the intelligent; for the Japanese are of an
investigating and mechanical turn of mind, and all who were above
ascribing the movements of the mysterious ships without sails to the
spirits of evil, immediately reasoned that they must have some
motive power, to themselves unknown, but about which, it would

ISO THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

be good to learn. The ignorant peasants supposed that the foreign
barbarians had succeeded in imprisoning volcanoes in their ships,
or, refusing to believe the evidence of their own eyes, comforted
each other with the assurance that the uncanny spectacle was simplj
a mirage created by the breath of clams and would soon pas3 away.

Commodore Perry had thoroughly informed himself of the
eeremonial customs of Japan, and used his knowledge of the extrav-
agant etiquette observed by the people of that country to good and
successful purpose. He secluded himself in his cabin and played
Mikado and Sho-gun to perfection, first to the provocation, and
finally to the amazement and awe, of the local officials of constantly
increasing rank who visited the flagship, only to be snubbed by
refusals to see the chief barbarian. Even the governor of the dis-
trict learned to his mortification and dismay that he was not a per-
sonage important enough to be allowed to meet the mysterious
power hidden behind the cabin doors. Orders to depart were met
only by a movement of the ships further up the bay towards Tedo;
offers to supply food and water in the hope that the unwelcome vis-
itors would then leave were politely declined, and the natives were
forced into accepting the proposal offered; namely, of designating
an official of proper rank to meet the barbarian and listen to what
he had to say. On the 14th of July, all arrangements having Been
completed, Ferry first showed himself and went on shore with a
large suite of officers and four hundred marines and sailors to meet
the two commissioners appointed to deal with him. The whole
affair was conducted studiously for theatrical effect to impress the
natives with the grandeur and importance of the event, no detail of
dress Or ceremony likely to appeal to the sensibilities of the Japan-
ese being omitted. A letter from the President of the United
States to the "Emperor of Japan" asking that friendly rela-
tions between the two. nations be established was delivered to the
commissioners with all pomp and solemnity, but with few words,
and the visitors withdrew, Perry saying that he would allow ample
time for consideration and would return the following spring for an
answer.

The vessels proceeded southward to Hong Kong, where the
Powhatan, which had left the United States in March to join the
squadron in place of the discarded Princeton, and some of the sail-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 131

ing vessels belonging to the station were met. Headquarters for
the Japanese expedition were established at Macao, where a house
was rented and facilities furnished the members of the expedition
for developing their sketches and writing reports of their observa-
tions. A number of specialists were attached to the different ships
with appointments as master's mates in order that they would be
subject to naval discipline, thereby avoiding the friction always
resulting from joint naval and civil enterprises afloat. Principal
among these were Messrs. Heine and Brown, the water-color artists
whose beautiful pictures so embellish Commodore Perry's report,
and Mr. Bayard Taylor, the " landscape painter in words. " Be-
sides the specialists a number of officers belonging regularly to the
navy contributed much valuable material for the report of the exped-
ition, notable among these being Surgeon Daniel S. Green and
Chaplain George Jones. A number of the most accurate drawings
relating to Japanese boat building and marine affairs published in
the report, were made by Third Assistant Engineer Mortimer Kel-
logg of the Powhatan.

In January 1854 the squadron again moved northward, con-
sisting of the steamers JPowhatan, Susquehanna and Mississippi, and
the sloops-of-war Macedonian, Vandalia, Plymouth aud Saratoga;
the store-ships Supply, Leasmgton and Southampton, with coal and
provisions for the ships, and presents for the Japanese government,
were also in company. On the 11th of February the greater part of
this force had assembled off Yedo Bay, anchoring on the 13th off
Yokosuke, where the great navy yard of New Japan is now located.
The mystery play began again by Perry retiring from public view
and holding the visiting officials at a respectful and chilly distance.
While the Japanese were exhausting their efforts to induce the for-
eigners to go away and leave them in peace, boats were kept busy
sounding and surveying the adjacent waters and giving intelligible
names to the prominent features of the region; one name thus be-
stowed, Mississippi Bay, so well known to all visitors to Japan, will
serve for all time to perpetuate in a far country the name of the
historical old steamer whose keel was the first of foreign build to
disturb its waters.

The following is a list of the officers of the engineer corps
serving in this squadron on the expedition which is the principal
subject of this chapter:

132

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

OFFICE.

NAME.

SHIP.

Chief Engineer
<c i.

Mississippi.

Susquehanna.

<> >i

Powhatan.

First Assistant

Powhatan.

a it

Mississippi.

It II

William Holland-

Mississippi.

1. II

Susquehanna.

II II

Susquehanna.

Powhatan.

•I If

George T. W. Logan..

Mississippi.

II II

Powhatan.

• l If

Susquehanna.

fl 11

Susquehanna.

II II

William Henry King„

Wm. H. Kuthert'ord...
George W. Alexander.

Stephen D. Hibbert....
Henry Fauth

Powhatan.

II (1

Susquehanna.

II (t

f 1

Mississippi. i

II 11

Mississippi.

Susquehanna.

•1 II

Powhatan.

II II

It II

Powhatan.

11 ll

II II

Edward D. Eobie

Mississippi.

If II

II It

Mississippi.

On the 24th of February, Perry, to convince the Japanese that
he was in earnest and would not be put oft:, moved six of the
ships up the Bay to within hearing of the temple bells of Yeddoand
anchored not far above Kanagawa. This move had the desired ef-
fect, for the Sho-gun'a government sent word in post haste, " If
the American ships come to Yeddo it will be a national disgrace.
Stop them, and make the treaty at Kanagawa. " Yokohama, a small
fishing village across an arm of the bay from Kanagawa, was finally
fixed upon as the place for the negotiations and there the Japanese
erected the necessary buildings for the ceremony, the enclosure about
them embracing the present location of the Custom House and
British Consulate in the cosmopolitan city that Yokohama has now
become.

On the 8th of March Perry landed with five hundred armed
men, and a glittering staff of officers in full uniform, the same cer-
monial display and scrupulous etiquette being observed which had
so impressed the natives on the occasion of his former visit. The
first formalities having been performed with becoming splendor and

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 133

dignity, the discussion of what was wanted was conducted more at
leisure, the remainder of that month being thus consumed before a
treaty was finally agreed to and signed. This treaty, which was
signed on March 31st, conceded little to the Americans, but served
as the thin end of the wedge for great possibilities thereafter. By
its terms the Japanese agreed to treat kindly shipwrecked mariners;
gave permission for ships to buy fuel, water, provisions, and other
needed stores, and specified the ports of Simoda and Hakodate as
places where foreign ships might anchor for repairs or to find ref-
uge from storms. Trade in other than necessary ship supplies and
permission to reside in the country were refused. These privileges,
together with many others, and the opening of several treaty ports,
followed in due time through the efforts of other diplomats.

While negotiations were going on at Yokohama the great collec-
tion of presents brought for the " Emperor," but by error given to
the Sho-gun, was landed and displayed to the officials and people.
The railway track, 369 feet in circumference, was laid by Chief
Engineer Gay of the Mississippi and on it the little locomotive and
car were daily operated, under the superintendence of Engineer
Robert Danby of the same steamer, to the great interest and de-
light of the people. The telegraph line, a mile long, was another
source of wonder and shrewd investigation on the part of the inquis-
itive and intelligent Japanese. This was in charge of two telegra-
phers named Draper and Williams, rated as master's mates, but
was operated part of the time by engineers Alexander and Kobie,
whom Commodore Perry had sent ashore in New York in 1852 for
a month, for the express purpose of learning telegraphy. A wealth
of other useful articles — stoves, clocks, maps, books, and machinery
of all kinds — were displayed, and their uses explained, this exhibi-
tion of mechanical appliances did more to win the people over to
the fact that it would be beneficial to them to become neighbourly
with other nations than all the arguments and bluster in the world.
From the Japanese accounts of this most important event in their
national history, it appears that the determining factors in Perry's
success were his steamships and the machinery he brought with him.
With a decided bent for the mechanic arts themselves, the Japanese
were quick to see that the foreigners were far ahead of them in that
respect, and they were willing to lay aside their ideas of exclusive-

134 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ness for the opportunity of learning what the strangers had to teach.

The world at large knows of the wonderful results which
sprung from the modest beginning above outlined, for the story of
Japan is the most marvelous in all the histories of the nations. As
Perry saw Japan, the people of that country were engulfed in the
darkness and ignorance of a despotism fixed upon them by an un-
changing and pitiless feudal domination of twenty centuries duration,
a condition beside which the state of society existing along the banks
of the Khine in the middle of the Dark AgeB would appear enlight-
ened by contrast. From such a forbidding prospect the mind is
dazed as it turns to look at New Japan with its railways, telegraph,
post offices, factories, school-houses, and church-steeples, all as fa-
miliar objects to the people as they are to the dwellers in either
Old or New England. The feudal system abolished; a parliamen-
tary form of government established; the hundreds of thousands of
idle and predatory knights deprived of their tyrannical prerogatives
and transformed into industrious men, and the yoke of serfdom re-
moved from the necks of four-fifths of the population of the empire
are examples of the miracles that have been wrought in that wonder-
ful land within the memory of men but little past middle age.

Having placed herself in the foremost rank of the civilized na-
tions by making full use of the heritage of the ages conferred upon
her, Japan has made herself the champion of modern enlightenment
and assumed the task of breaking down Chinese conservatism and
of introducing the methods of Western civilization by force into the
greatest and most obstinate country that has ever been a barrier to
the world's progress. By availing themselves of Western discip-
line, tactics and humane methods of warfare the brave little Japa-
nese have been able to prevail against great numerical odds and by
a series of victories, each more brilliant than its predecessor, have
proceeded uninterruptedly on their mission of carrying enlightment
and civilization into the Dark East. Great as may be the victory
to Japan as a nation, its moral and far-reaching effects will be much
greater for the well-being of the world. When New Japan has
celebrated her victories and duly honored her great captains who
achieved them, she cannot pay a more appropriate tribute to the first
cause that made her modern power possible, than by erecting on the
strand at Yokohama a statue of Matthew C. Perry, looking outward
upon the water over which his steamers brought Western methods

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 135

into Japanese history. And on the pedestal of that statue should be
carved an image of a steamship, or some other symbol of the me-
chanic arts, as the true sign of the beginning of the greatness of
New Japan; the sign by which she was conquered and by which she
in turn has conquered.

Following the completion of negotiations in Japan, Perry's
squadron began to disband, the Commodore himself proceeding home
by way of Europe in a Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer — the
Hindustan. The Mississippi left Hong Kong on the 12th of Sep-
tember and after touching at Simoda in Japan began the long voy-
age homeward by way of Honolulu and Rio de Janeiro. She ar-
rived at New York the 23d of April, 1855, having circumnavigated
the globe during her absence and placed herself on record as the
second steam vessel of the United States navy to do so. The Sus-
quehanna also returned home by way of the Pacific and South Amer-
ica, her arrival in Philadelphia on the 10th of March giving her the
honor of being the first American naval steamer to make a cruise
around the world.

The home-coming ships brought with them many presents, now
in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, illustrative of the skill
of artists and artisans of Japan, consisting of bronze, ivory, porcelain,
and other work. More appropriate even were the blocks of carved
and inscribed stone from different parts of Japan given for the
Washington monument and whieh may now be seen in the walls of
that structure. From Napa in Kiu Kiu came as a gift the large bronze
bell which for so many years has hung in its little temple in the
grounds of the Naval Academy. The date of founding inscribed on
this bell corresponds to the year 1456, A. D., and part of the in-
scription on it, as translated by Giro Kunitomo, a Japanese student
at the academy, reads as follows:

"This beautiful bell has been founded, and hung in the tower
of the temple. It will awaken dreams of superstition. If one will
bear in mind to act rightly and truly, and the Lords and the Minis-
ters will do justice in a body, the barbarians will never come to in-
vade. The sound of the bell will convey the virtue of Fushi, and
will echo like the song of Tsuirai; and the benevolence of the Lords
will continue forever like those echoes."

Eegardless of the prediction thus written in brass, the barbarians
not only came but carried the bell away with them.

136 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The Tai-ping rebellion being in progress in China at the tim©
now being dealt with, the United States vessels remaining in that
region were kept actively employed in protecting the lives and prop-
erty of American citizens. Piracy became rampant along the coasts
and compelled much dangerous service in seeking out the piratical
junks and capturing them in hand-to-hand conflicts, a chartered
steamer of light draft, named the Queen, being especially active in
this work. Referring to this disagreeable service, the Secretary of
the Navy wrote in his annual report for 1855: " In these several en-
counters, the officers and men have conducted themselves gallantly,
and honorable mention is made of Lieutenants Pegram, Preble, Ro-
lando, E. Y. McCauley, and Sproston; Assistant Engineers Stamm
and Kellogg; Acting Masters' Mates J. P. Williams and S. R. Craig;
and Private Benjamin Adamson, of the Marine Corps, who was
dangerously wounded. I deem this a proper occasion to suggest the
purchase or building of one or two steamers of light draught, to be
used in the Chinese rivers, as indispensable for the protection of the
immense property belonging to citizens of the United States in
China."

In July, 1855, while entering the harbor of Hong Kong, the
Powhatan by accident had the starboard air-pump machinery so
completely wrecked that the ship was seemingly disabled for an in-
definite time. An international complication with Spain at the time
made it probable that the next mail would bring news of a state of
war, and the presence of a Spanish war vessel in Hong Kong har-
bor rendered the helpless condition of the Powhatan a source of most
serious apprehension. In this emergency Mr. George Sewell, her
chief engineer, rigged up a connection between the two engines, so
that the port engine did the condensing of steam for the disabled
starboard engine, the work being completed within forty-eight hour*
after the breakdown and the Powhatan made ready for any service,
including battle if necessary. Officers of the British war-steamer
Battler, who attended a trial trip to test the success of Mr. Sewell's
emergency makeshift, remarked that a chief engineer in their navy
would be knighted for rendering service of such value in a similar
emergency. A.n idea of the extent of the difficulty overcome by
this ingenious engineer may be gained from the fact that ten weeks
were consumed in permanently repairing the damages.

CHAPTEK X.

" Our tall ships have souls, and plow with Reason up the deeps."

Ogilbt, Translation of the Odyssey.

End of the Experimental, and Beginning of the Creative Period of the Amer-
ican Steam Navy — The Franklin — The Mebbimao class of Screw Frigates
— The Niagara — Services of Chief Engineer Everett in connection with
the Atlantic Cable Laid by the Niagara — The Hartford class of Large
Screw Sloops — Mr. Archbold succeeds Mr. Martin as Engineer-in-Chief —
The Mohican class — The Pawnee— The Paraguay Expedition — Small
Steamers Purchased for the Navy — Project to Convert Old Line-of -Battle
Ships into Steam Frigates.

ALL the vessels of the early steam period of our navy have now
been described with the exception of the John Hancock, a
small screw-steamer of 208 tons, built at the Boston Navy Yard in
1850, intended to serve the double purpose of a steam tug and
water-boat for that station. Her length was 113 feet; breadth of
beam, 22 feet; mean draft, 8 feet. The machinery was designed
by Mr. Charles W. Oopeland and built at the Washington Navy
Yard by Mr. William M. Ellis, the civilian chief engineer of the
yard. There were two oscillating non-condensing cylinders, 20
inches in diameter and 21 inches stroke, suspended over the shaft,
and one iron return-flue boiler, 22 feet long, containing 28 square
feet of grate surface and 755 square feet of heating surface. The
cost of the vessel was $20,550.72, of which sum $5,622.59 was
charged to the engine and propeller, and $2,428.13 to the boiler
and fittings. In 1851 the Simcooh was used as a practice steamer
for midshipmen at the Naval Academy, and later in the same year
made a short cruise to the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1852 she was hauled into a ship-house at the Boston Navy
Yard and remodeled, being cut in two and lengthened 38 feet, the
change resulting in a trim bark-rigged steamer rated as of 382 tons
burden. The engines were altered to low-pressure, with Pirsson's
condenser, the stroke of pistons increased three inches, and the
boiler replaced by two of the Martin vertical water-tube type,
aggregating 70 square feet of grate surface and 2,280 square feet of

138 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATEa

heating surface. The alterations in machinery were made by Har-
rison Loring, Boston, from plans supplied by Chief Engineer D.
B. Martin, U. S. Navy. When completed, the new steamer pro-
ceeded to the Pacific Ocean and was employed for about three yeara
on surveying duty in the North Pacific, Bering and China seas,
under the command of Lieutenant John Eodgers, Messrs. Elbridge
Lawton and David B. Macomb being the senior engineers. After
making a survey of Bering Sea the John Hancock was put out of
commission at San Francisco and remained there as a receiving
ship or in ordinary until 1865, when she was sold.

Reference has already been made to the fact that advocates
of steam power for naval purposes were compelled to face a most
discouraging argument based upon the unprotected condition of
machinery in paddle-wheel steamers. Ericsson had proved with
the Princeton that a ship could be driven by a submerged propel-
ler, but his application of power was new, at least to the navy, and
it was many years before the lesson of the Princeton was accepted
by naval officers as conclusive. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr.
Dobbin, had become thoroughly impressed with the necessity for
building up a steam navy, and in his annual report for 1853 made
an urgent appeal to Congress for authority to begin the immediate
construction of six " first-class steam frigate propellers," using the
following argument in support of his request :

" Steam is unquestionably the great agent to be used on the
ocean, as well for purposes of war as of commerce. The improved
system of screw-propellers, instead of side- wheels, is one of the
grand desiderata to render the use of steam effective in naval war-
fare— the one being exposed to the shot of the enemy, the other
submerged and comparatively secure. When the bayonet was
added to the musket the invention was applauded, for placing in
the hands of the soldier, at one time, two engines of destruction/
and the introduction of the screw-propeller has been similarly appre-
ciated, as combining, without confusion, two elements of progress —
the sail and the steam-engine. Side-wheel steamers are much im-
paired in their capacity for sailing, and consume too much coal for
distant cruises. Those now on hand can be made to answer well
for short cruises and for despatch vessels. The screw-propeller,
being upon a principle not so much interfering with the sailing

ts-

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 141

capacity, with the improved models of the present day, can be ao
constructed as to sail as well as the best clipper ships, and reserve
the use of steam for emergencies when the greatest speed is re-
quired, or when, in a calm, a desirable position can be more
promptly and surely taken. The great necessary expense incident
to the expedition to Japan could have been materially, indeed, one-
half curtailed, had it been in the power of the department to have
supplied the squadron with screw-propellers instead of the side-
wheel steamers, now costing so much from the consumption of
coal."

In the same year, 1853, Mr. Dobbin had already begun one
Bcrew frigate by using his authority to repair old vessels, the one
selected being the old ship-of-the-line Franklin, lying at the Kit-
tery Navy Yard. Orders were issued to repair this ship and make
such changes in her model as would fit her for a first-class steam
frigate. The old ship Franklin was built in 1815 at Philadelphia,
and was 188 feet long and 50 feet beam. The new FrankUn, as
finished, was 265 feet long on the load water-line, and 53 feet 8
inches beam, dimensions so entirely different from those of the
original ship that the process of repairing evidently amounted in
reality to building an entirely new hull out of the old material. As
the amount of money available each year for repairs was small,
work on the Franklin progressed slowly, and it was ten years be-
fore the condition of the hull warranted a contract for machinery,
which will be described later in proper chronological order.

The recommendation of the department regarding steam frig-
ates was favorably received by Congress, and a few months later
an act, approved April 6, 1854, authorized the Secretary of the
Navy to have constructed " six first-class steam frigates to be pro-
vided with screw propellers. " These ships were all built by the
Government at navy yards as follows : The Merrirnac at Boston;
the Wabash at Philadelphia; the Minnesota at Washington; the
Roanoke and Colorado at Norfolk, and the Niagara at New York.
The three first named were launched in 1855 and the three others
early in 1856, they being, when completed, the superiors of any
war vessels then possessed by any nation in the world. When the
first of them went abroad they became objects of admiration and
envy to the naval architects of Europe, and their type was quickly

142 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

copied into other navies, notably that of England, which imitated
their construction in the Orlando, Mersey, and others of that class.

Just at that period the American ship-building industry had
reached its highest development; our architects had attained a skill
in their profession which made their work famous throughout the
world, and lent to the word American, when applied to ships, a
peculiar significance, always an accepted guarantee of excellence.
Some of the most eminent of the American ship- builders were
members of the naval construction corps, which then included such
men as Mr. Lenthal, the chief constructor of the navy; the two
Delanos; Messrs. Pook and Hanscom, and several others, all
famous in their line. To these gentlemen the navy was indebted
for the designs which made our new ships the admiration of the
world, and so elevated the standard and reputation of the American
navy that every officer and man felt an accession of pride at being
part of such an organization.

The first five of the ships named were frigate-built, with steam
power that was merely auxiliary. They were full ship-rigged, the
area of the ten principal sails being about thirty-two times the im-
mersed midship section, which ratio is only slightly less than that
observed in the practice of rigging sailing frigates. They were built
of seasoned live-oak frames in stock in the navy yards and originally
intended for use in old style sailing ships, an adaptation of material
that exercised a controlling influence on the lines of the new ships
from the necessity of so shaping them that the supply of frame tim-
bers could be worked up without waste. The results, however, were
entirely satisfactory as the ships proved to be fast and handy under
sail alone, and their steam power was sufficient for the purpose in-
tended— to steam in and out of port or across calm belts, and to lend
additional manceuvering qualities in storms and battle. 1

'Speaking of the building of these ships, the late Rear Admiral Edward Simp-
son, in an article published in Harper's Magazine, June, 1886, says: "There were
those at that time who, wise beyond their generation, recognized the full meaning of
the advent of steam, and saw that it must supplant sails altogether as a motive
power for ships. These advocated that new constructions should be provided with
full steam-power, with sails as an auxiliary; but the old pride in the sailing ship,
with her taut and graceful spars, could not be made to yield at onoe to the innovation;
old traditions pointing to the necessity of full sail-power could not be dispelled; it was
considered a sufficient concession to admit steam on any terms, and thus the conser-
vative and temporizing course was adopted of retaining^full sail-power, and utilizing
steam as an auxiliary."

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

145

Of these vessels the Merrimack (or Merrimac, as the name is
usually spelled), was the type, the others being only slight modifi-
cations of the original. The Wabash and Minnesota differed only
from the Merrimac in having a few feet more length inserted amid-
ships to give additional space for machinery and fuel, while the
Roanoke and Colorado^ exact duplicates of each other, differed from
the others mainly in having about one foot more beam. The follow-
ing table shows the principal dimensions of these frigates as origi-
nally built, from which the points of difference may be readily traced:

MERRIMAC.

WABASH.

HIMESOTA.

ROANOKE.

256.9
51.4

262.4
51.4

264. 8 J
51.4

263. 8£
52.6

868.1

902.9

4,635.6
3,200

4,774.3
3,200

4,833.4
3,200

4,772.2
3,400

COLORADO.

Length on load water line, feet
and inches...

Beam on same

Area of immersed midship sec-
tion, square feet.

Displacement at load water line,
tons

Tonnage

263. 8*
52.6

902.9

4,772.2
3,400

The Merrimac had two horizontal back-acting engines, the cyl-
inders being on opposite sides of the ship and located at diagonally
opposite corners of a rectangle circumscribing the engines, the jet
condenser, air pump and hot- well of one cylinder being by the side
of the other cylinder, the two piston rods of each cylinder striding
the crank shaft. The cylinders were 72 inches in diameter by 3 feet
stroke of piston and were designed to make about 45 double strokes
per minute. A three-ported slide valve placed horizontally on top
of the cylinder and actuated by a rock-shaft was used, expansion
being obtained by the use of an independent cut-off valve of the
gridiron type. There were four 4-furnace Martin's vertical water-
tube boilers of iron, except the tubes which were brass; the grate
surface of all boilers was 333. 5 square feet and total heating surface
12,537 square feet. The single smoke-pipe was 8 feet in diameter,
telescopic to avoid spoiling the appearance of the ship while in port,
and stood 65 feet above the grate bars. Each boiler had a system
of brass tubes underneath for a feed-water heater, the feed water be-
ing pumped through the tubes which were kept hot by the supersalted

146 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

water being constantly blown off to keep down the saturation, ac-
cording to the practice of those days. The propeller was a two-
bladed Griffith's screw of bronze with spherical hub and blades, ad-
justable to different pitches, the mean pitch being 25 feet, and di-
ameter of the screw 17 feet 4 inches. This machinery was designed
by the contractor, Mr. Eobert P. Parrot and built at his works at
Cold Springs, New York, under the inspection of Chief Engineer
Wm. H. Shock, TJ. S. Navy, who subsequently superintended its
erection on board the vessel at Boston.

The maximum performance of the Men'vmao in smooth water
under steam alone is shown by the following figures:

Speed in knots per hour 8.87

Revolutions of screw per minute 46. 7

Steam cut off in fraction of stroke 0.3

Steam pressure in boilers in pounds above atmos-
phere 13.5

Vacuum (mean) in inches of mercury 24. 5

Total horse-power developed by engines 1,294.4

Pounds of coal per hour by square foot of grate.. 12.74

Pounds of coal per hour per horse-power 3.28

An abstract of the log of the Merrvmac when under steam
alone and in all conditions of wind and weather shows an average
Bpeed of 5.25 knots; 36.5 revolutions per minute; 12.8 average
Bteam pressure; 20.4 average vacuum, and a consumption of 3,400
pounds of anthracite coal per hour. A similar set of averages under
steam and sail combined shows 7.67 knots; 39.3 revolutions; 12.5
steam pressure; 21 inches of vacuum, and 3,392 pounds of coal per
hour.

The Merrvmac was put in commission in December, 1855,
under the command of Captain F. H. Gregory, Mr. Shock being the
chief engineer, and for a few months was on special duty on the
home coast, going later to Europe where she visited Southampton,
Brest, Lisbon, Toulon, and other naval stations, exciting every-
where the admiration of naval experts, for she is said to have been
the most beautiful of all the ships of her class. In 1857 she went
to the Pacific as the flagship and remained on that station until

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 147

1860, her chief engineer being first Mr. E. H. Long and afterward
Mr. Alban 0. Stimers. In 1860 she returned home and was laid
up at the Norfolk navy yard for extensive repairs to her machinery,
which was very unsatisfactory. Mr. Charles H. Loring, engineer-
in-chief of the navy a few years since, who was the first assistant
engineer of the Merrimac during the whole period of her service, has
written the author regarding her machinery, that the steam log books
of the cruise. " contained a record of efforts to overcome inherent
defects of design, and of experimental work in different directions,
that would be interesting even now, despite its being very ancient
history. ' ' The arrival of this ship at Norfolk concluded her active
career in the United States navy; later chapters dealing with the
Civil War will relate the circumstances of her loss to the govern-
ment, and her career in the hands of her captors.

The Wabash had two horizontal condensing cylinders 72 inches
in diameter by 3 feet stroke, motion being communicated from the
piston rods to the crank by means of a yoke or harp, the once pop-
ular steeple-engine form of connection; the piston rods were secur-
ed to the large end of the harp, from the opposite, or small end of
which the connecting rod reached backward, the crank revolving
inside the larger part of the harp, the bottom of the large end of
the harp was fitted with a shoe which rode back and forth on a
guide-plate. A jet condenser was employed. The steam valves,
operated by a Stevenson link from a rock shaft, were flat slide
valves with independent cut-off valves on the back of each; these
latter were operated by separate eccentrics and consisted in each
case of two blocks or plates adjustable by right and left hand screws,
being in short, the well-known Meyer expansion valve, which from
this application of it came to be generally known in our navy as the
' ' Wabash valve. ' ' The boilers were the same in number and type
as those of the M&rrimao, differing slightly in outside dimensions
but containing five furnaces instead of four, the grate area of each
furnace being proportionately smaller and the total grate area
practically the same. The same type of feed- water heater was used.
The propeller was a two-bladed true screw of brass, 17 feet £ inches
in diameter and 23 feet pitch, made to disconnect and hoist up in a
well in the stern. This machinery was built by Merrick & Sons,
Philadelphia, from their own designs and was superintended while
under construction by Chief Engineer James W King, U. S. Navy.

148 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The Wabash was first commissioned in August, 1856, and
served as the flagship of Commodore Hiram Paulding on the home
station for about two years, then going to the Mediterranean with
the flag of Commodore Lavallette, Mr. King being the first chief'
engineer and Benjamin F. Garvin the second. She returned home
in 1859 and remained in ordinary until the outbreak of the Civil
War, when she was put in commission and saw much active service,
as outlined in the appendix.

The Minnesota's engines were built at the Washington Navy
Yard from designs prepared by Engineer-in-Chief D. B. Martin,
and furnish a third example of the engine practice of that day.
There were two horizontal cylinders of the Penn trunk type, 79£
inches in diameter and 3 feet stroke, the trunks being 33 inches in
diameter. Unlike the usual Penn design, these engines had a sep-
arate slide valve for the cut-off valve, placed in advance of the
main steam valve and working upon a fixed seat of its own. The
steam valves were ordinary double-ported slides operated by link
motion and located on the sides of the cylinders with faces vertical,
while the cut-off valves were above them and horizontal, thus en-
tailing the disadvantage of leaving a considerable space filled with
steam after the cut-offs had closed. The boilers were in all respects
duplicates of the Martin boilers described in the case of the Merri-
mac, and the propeller was exactly the same as that of the Wabash.
The first service of the Minnesota was on the East India station in
1857-58 and '59 under the command of Captain S. DuPont, the
Mississippi being the flagship of that squadron at the time.

The engines, boilers and screws of the Roanoke and Colorado
were in all respects the precise duplicates of those of the Minnesota,
the machinery complete for both ships being built by Anderson,
Dulany & Co. , (Tredegar Iron Works), Richmond, Virginia, under
the superintendence of Chief Engineer W. W. W. Wood, U. S.
Navy. The Colorado was prepared for sea when completed in
1857, but did very little service besides steaming to Boston, where
she was laid up, before the beginning of the war. The Roanoke
was flagship of the home squadron in 1858, 1859, and the first
months of 1860, then being put out of commission and laid up until
the war made her services again necessary. A dearth of enlisted
men, and the increased cost of maintaining the steam frigates in

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 151

comparison with the cost of keeping sailing frigates in commission,
were the reasons for the non-employment" of these fine ships.

The Niagara is generally spoken of as a frigate, having been
associated in building with the Merrvmac class, but was in fact an
exceedingly large sloop-of-war and not a frigate at all. The idea
of speed was entertained in her case, and Mr. George Steers, an
eminent ship-builder of New York, who had acquired fame as a de-
signer of swift clipper-ships and yachts1 was called upon for pro-
fessional aid. Mr. Steers was given a temporary appointment as
naval constructor, and during the two years he held that office he
designed the Niagara and superintended her construction in the
New York Navy Yard. The hull was designed with very sharp
lines for speed, and her constructor was not restricted by any at-
tempt to accommodate her model to the shape of frame timbers on
hand; speed under sail was the primary quality sought, but speed
under steam was not neglected, about fifty per cent, more power
being provided than in the case of frigates. The dimensions of the
vessel were unusually large for the time, length on the load water-
line being 328 feet 10^ inches; breadth at same, 55 feet; displace-
ment, 5,540 tons, and registered tonnage (old measurement), 4,580.

The Niagara's engines consisted of three horizontal direct-
acting cylinders 72 inches in diameter and 3 feet stroke, fitted with
independent gridiron slide cut-off valves and jet condensers. The
boilers were of the Martin type, the same as used in the five frig-
ates, but were considerably larger, having six furnaces each and
about fifty per cent, more grate and heating surface. No heating
apparatus for feed-water was supplied. There were two telescopic
smoke-pipes, and the propeller was of the same hoisting type used
on the frigates. The machinery was designed and built by Pease
& Murphy (Fulton Iron Works), New York, its construction being
under the direction of Chief Engineer William H. Everett, who also
had charge of the work of installing it in the vessel. The maximum
speed in smooth water under steam alone was found to be 10.9
knots, and the average sea speed under steam and sail with varying
conditions of weather, was 8. 5 knots.

1 Mr. Steers designed and built the famous yacht America, which won the
Queen's cup in the regatta at Cowes, England, in 1851.

152 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

The Niagara was put in commission in the spring of 1857
under command of Captain Hudson, Mr. Everett being her chief
engineer, and proceeded to England in April to undertake the work
of laying the first Atlantic cable. One-half the cable (about 1,250
miles) was put in the hold of the Niagara and the other half in H.
M. S. Agamemnon, the two ships leaving Valencia, Ireland, Aug-
ust 7th, 1857, the Niagara paying out her part of the cable. The
IT. S. S. Susquehanna accompanied the expedition to lend assistance
if needed. Four days after leaving Ireland the cable broke through
defects in the paying-out machinery and the enterprise was aban-
doned for that year, the Niagara returning home. Chief Engineer
Everett had detected the faults in the cable machinery and submitted
plans to remedy them which were considered so excellent that at the
request of the cable company he was detached from the Niagara
and granted leave of absence with permission to go to England to
direct the construction of the mechanism proposed by him. In
March, 1858, the Niagara returned to England and with the
Agamemnon proceeded to the middle of the ocean, from whence
each vessel started homeward, each paying out her section of the
cable, Mr. Everett in his capacity of superintendent for the
cable company directing the work from the Niagara. After a
delay of about a month occasioned by a break in the Agamemnon's
section three days after the work was begun, the ships had no
further trouble and landed their ends of the cable successfully, the
Niagara at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and the Agamemnon at
Valencia, Ireland.

The engineers of the Niagara on this noteworthy voyage were,
Joshua Follansbee, chief; John Faron and fm. S. Stamm, first
assistants; George K. Johnson and Mortimer Kellogg, second as-
sistants, and Jackson McElmell, George F. Kutz, and Wm. G.
Buehler, third assistants. They all received gold medals from the
Chamber of Commerce of the city of New York in commemoration
of the event. Chief Engineer Wm. H. Everett, whose genius made
the undertaking successful, is said to have received $25,000 from
the cable company for his services. After operating for two weeks
and transmitting about four hundred messages, the cable ceased
working on account of defective insulation, and was not replaced
until 1866 when a much larger and better made cable was laid by

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 153

the Great Eastern, that vessel having failed in an attempt the year
before. After laying the cable in 1858 the Niagara spent the re-
mainder of that year in a task which was neither agreeable or
glorious. To meet a demand of public sentiment she was freighted
with nearly three hundred destitute and savage negroes, who had
been taken from a slaver named the Echo off the coast of Cuba,
and transported them to Liberia on the west coast of Africa. Many
•of the negroes died on the voyage and the whole experience with
them was intensely distasteful, and disagreeable.

In 1860 the Niagara conveyed to Japan by way of the Cape of
Good Hope the embassy which had been sent to the United States
by the Sho-gun of that country. The Civil War brought her home
the next year and after undergoing extensive repairs she was sent on
special service to Europe, her great size rendering her unfit for
hostile operations along the insurgent coasts. The capture of the
Confederate privateer Georgia in August, 1864, and refusing battle
with the iron-clad ram Stonewall off the port of Coruna in April,
1865, were the chief incidents of this cruise, which was the Niaga-
ra's last. At the close of the war she was laid up in Boston
and remained there until condemned and sold in 1885. In 1871-'72
the work of remodeling and repairing her was prosecuted for a time,
but eventually abandoned.

A resolution of Congress, approved February 3, 1855, author-
ized the Secretary of the Navy " to provide and despatch a suitable
naval, or other steamer, and, if necessary, a tender, to the Arctic
seas for the purpose of rescuing or affording relief to Passed Assist-
ant Surgeon E. K. Kane, of the United States Navy, and the officers
and men under his command." This resolution added one small
vessel to the steam navy, the Arctic, purchased in 1855 and which
rendered most efficient service and made the relief expedition suc-
cessful through her ability as a steamer to " bore " through the ice-
pack of Baffin's Bay. Lieutenant H. J. Hartstene in the bark He-
lease commanded the expedition and succeeded after many trials and
hardships in finding Dr. Kane and brought him and his party safely
home. The officers volunteered for this service from the navy
that being a requirement imposed by the congressional resolution,
the only one now believed to be living, being Rear Admiral Joseph
Fyffe, 1 who was a passed midshipman in the Release. First Assist-

1 Since deceased.

154 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ant Engineer Harman Newell and Acting Third Assistant Engineer
Wm, Johnson went in the Arctic. In 1859 the Arctic's machinery-
was removed and the hall transferred to the light honse board for
a light-ship.

In the year 1855 also a somewhat larger screw steamer, the
Despatch was purchased and sent to the Pensacola navy yard as a
tender for that station, her tonnage being 558 and cost $139,088.17.
In 1859 she was rebuilt at the Norfolk navy yard and enlarged to
694 tons, the name being at that time changed to Pocahontas, under
which she performed much valuable service during the rebellion.

By an act of Congress approved March 3, 1857, authority was
given for the immediate construction of five large screw sloops-of-
war, the general size or class of the vessels being specified by the
act. Four of them were at once placed under construction as fol-
lows: The Pensacola at Pensacola; the Lancaster at Philadelphia;
the Hartford at Boston ; and the Richmond at Norfolk. In order to
incite a healthful rivalry between the naval constructors and civilian
ship-builders it was decided to commit the building of the fifth sloop
wholly to private enterprise, and advertisements were accordingly
issued for competitive plans and specifications. Thirteen proposals
were received in response, from which a board of officers selected
the one submitted by Mr. Jacob Westervelt of New York, to whom
a contract was awarded. The vessel thus brought into existence
was the Brooklyn, the hull of which was built by Mr. Westervelt
under the superintendence of Naval Constructor S. H. Pook, and
the machinery by sub-contract by the Fulton Iron Works, superin-
tended by Chief Engineer D. B. Martin, U. S. Navy.

Mr. Martin was the engineer- in-chief of the navy for a full term
of four years beginning October 18, 1853, and was known as a
thoroughly capable and painstaking engineer, familiar with the
many branches of his calling so far as they were developed in his
time. He was the inventor of the vertical water-tube boiler which
for many years was the type of excellence in marine boiler work
and was an improvement over the flue boilers that immed-
iately preceded it. After being succeeded at the expiration of hia
term of office as engineer-in-chief by Chief Engineer Samuel Arch-
bold, Mr. Martin performed duty as inspector of machinery for the
Brooklyn, and as general inspector for some smaller sloops built

Chief engineer daniel b. martin, u. s. navy;
Engineer-in Chief of the Navy from October 18, 1853, to October 17, 1857.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 157

later, as well as serving on boards for the selection of types of new
vessels authorized. He resigned from the service in 1859 and, like
many other men who have occupied important public offices, ex-
pressed his weariness with the thankless world's work by returning
to his native place and taking up the peaceful occupation of farmer.
The Brooklyn was 233 feet long on the load water line; 43
feet beam; 2,686 tons displacement, and of 2,070 tons burden. Her
machinery consisted of two horizontal direct-acting cylinders 61
inches in diameter by 33 inches stroke. The steam valve was a
three-ported slide fitted with the Meyer cut-off blocks on its back.
A jet condenser was used. There were two Martin boilers with
seven furnaces each, aggregating 250 square feet of grate surface
and 7,788 square feet of heating surface, fitted with one telescopic
smoke-pipe 7 feet in diameter and 50 feet high above the grate bars.
The propeller was a two-bladed hoisting screw, 14^ feet in diameter
and 24. 7 feet mean pitch. The total weight of machinery was 240
tons and of water in boilers, 64 tons. The vessel was completed in
little more than a year after the date of contract and exhibited a
speed of 9.2 knots under steam alone in smooth water, with 51 rev-
olutions of the screw, 18 pounds steam pressure, 27 inches of
vacuum, 878 developed horse-power, and 3.2 pounds of anthracite
coal consumed per hour, per horse power. Her first service was in
the home squadron in 1859-'60,'61.

The Hartford, built at the Boston Navy Yard, was slightly
smaller than the Brooklyn, her principal factors being length, 225
feet; beam, 44 feet; tonnage (old) 1,900, and displacement, 2,550.
Her machinery was built by Loring & Coney, Boston, under the
supervision of Chief Engineer Jesse Gay, U. S. Navy, and con-
sisted of a direct-acting two-cylinder jet condensing engine with
cylinders 62 inches in diameter by 34 inches stroke, and two Mar-
tin boilers with 253 square feet of grate surface and 7,600 square
feet of heating surface. The screw was of bronze, two-bladed, 14
feet diameter and 25 feet pitch. This was replaced in 1880 by a
more efficient four-bladed screw and the original one diverted to a
lasting and appropriate use by being melted and cast into the statue
of Admiral Farragut, which stands in Farragut Square, Washington,
D. C. The Hartford was launched early in 1859 and commissioned
for sea the following summer, going to the East India station to re-

158 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

lieve the Mississippi as flagship. Her maximum speed under steam
alone in smooth water was found to be 9.5 knots, an average sea
performance with sail and steam, 7.3 knots. In 1880 the Hartford
was fitted with new machinery, the engines put in being a pair of
the 60"x36" Isherwood engines built by Harrison Loring during the
war for a sloop that was never finished — the Kewaydin.

The Lancaster was the largest of the ships of her class, being
235 feet 8 inches long, 46 feet beam, 3,290 tons displacement, and
2,362 registered tonnage. Her machinery was built by Reanie &
Neafie, Philadelphia, Under the inspection of Chief Engineer W.
W. W. Wood, the engines and attachments being exactly like those
for the Brooklyn. The boilers were of the same type, but about
twelve per cent, larger in grate and heating surface than those of
the Brooklyn. The contract price for the Lancaster's machinery
complete, was $137,500. Like the Sort ford, she was eventually
fitted with a pair.of the 60"x36" Isherwood engines, built during the
war. In 1879-80 the hull was thoroughly overhauled and remod-
eled with a ram-bow, making her a formidable appearing craft for
our navy at that time. The Lancaster was launched in 1858 and
went the following year to the Pacific station, where she remained
as flagship until 1867, thus being deprived of an active part in the
Civil War, in which her sister ships achieved so much glory.

The Richmond was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard and her ma-
chinery at the Washington Navy Yard, the latter being designed by
Mr. Archbold, the engineer-in- chief. The principal dimensions of
the vessel were: Length, 225 feet; beam, 42 feet; displacement,
2,604 tons, and registered tonnage 1,929. The machinery con-
sisted of a two- cylinder direct- acting engine with cylinders 58 inches
in diameter and 36 inches stroke of piston, fitted with single poppet
valves and Sickles' cut-offs. The use of the poppet valves was
forced upon the department by the political influence of two civilians
who at that time had a contract for directing the construction of
machinery for the Pensacola, and was found to be decidedly harm-
ful to the efficiency of the ship. Much of the lighter engine work,
pipe fittings, attachments, etc. , was done at the Norfolk Navy Yard,
but all the heavy work was done at Washington. In 1866, as soon
as she could be spared from active service, the Richmond was fitted
with a pair of the 60vvx36" Isherwood engines built expressly for her

-i

1
6"

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 161

at the Washington Navy Yard during the three preceding years.
The Richmond was not launched until 1860, and in the latter part
of that year went to the Mediterranean as flagship of the station;
recalled by the outbreak of the rebellion the next year, she joined
the West Gulf blockading squadron, and was a conspicuous factor
in the varied operations which made Farragut famous.

The last of these five ships, the Pensacola, brought into the
field of naval contention a new and unique character in the person
of Mr. Edward N. Dickerson, who made the engineering life of the
Navy Department exceedingly interesting for a number of years and
enriched the annals of.seientific experiment not a little, by injecting
an element of novelty and humor into otherwise dry and technical
matters. The Pensacola was built at the navy yard, Pensacola,
Florida, and was 230 feet 8 inches in length; 44 feet 6 inches beam;
3,000 tons displacement, and 2,158 measured tonnage. Her greater
displacement than the other ships of practically the same dimensions
was due to the fact, that the machinery as originally installed
weighed 540 tons, while that of the Hartford weighed only 200
tons, and of the larger Lancaster 246£ tons. This machinery was
built at the Washington Navy Yard by the Government from the
designs, and under the supervision of two civilians, Messrs. Sickles
and Dickerson.

Mr. Frederick E. Sickles was an inventor and engineer of
ability and experience; he was the inventor of a cut-off mechanism
for poppet valves, and at this time was engaged in fitting his patent
to the engines of the Hichmond, as previously mentioned. Mr.
Dickerson was a New Yprk lawyer who had become acquainted
with Sickles through patent suits and from gaining a smattering of
mechanical matters had become an enthusiast on the subject, enter-
ing into the study of engineering with all the zeal aDd blindness of
a new convert. He appears to have become enamored of Mariotte's
law regarding the relationship of volumes, pressures, and tempera-
tures of gases, and from his faith in the infallibility of that law
under all conditions came to the conclusion that his mission upon
earth was to reform the engineering practices of the time, in which,
as now, owing to material difficulties, the law of Mariotte when
applied to the steam engine did not display its theoretical perfec-
tion. Mr. Dickerson is described as a man of graceful manners

162 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

and appearance, and a mest eloquent and persuasive speaker, capa-
ble of convincing almost anyone of the soundness of his theories.1

Having entered into partnership with Sickels, the new firm
proposed to the Navy Department to design machinery for one of
the new ships which would ' ' produce the highest possible effect
from a given amount of fuel, and with the least possible weight."
The plans suggested were regarded by all engineers as very faulty
and Mr. Toucey, the Secretary of the Navy himself, saw their im-
practicability. Engineer-in- Chief Martin and his successor, Mr.
Archbold, both strenuously opposed the proposition, as did also en-
gineers generally in the Navy and in civil life. Mr. Dickerson,
however, was intimately connected socially and politically with Mr.
Mallory of Florida, , then Chairman of the Senate Committee on na-
val affairs, and with Senator Yulee of the same state and a promi-
nent member of the same Committee, through whose political influ-
ence, exerted with great energy, Mr. Dickerson eventually obtained
the sought for contract. The opposition of the Secretary was over-
borne and he most unwillingly signed it. The date of this contract
was April 3, 1858; by its terms Sickels and Dickerson agreed to de-
sign and superintend the building of the Pensacola's machinery and
allow the Government to use their patents.

The drawings furnished by them are still on file in the Bureau
of Steam Engineering, Navy Department, and exhibit by their bril-
liant coloring and crudeness of execution their amateur origin. Mr.
Sickels apparently had allowed his good engineering sense to lie
dormant and permitted his enthusiastic partner to revel unchecked
in mechanical movements and designs. Cams, ratchets, bell-cranks,
combination levers, etc., appear in profusion for the performance
of the simplest functions, seemingly introduced for the purpose of
indicating knowledge of mechanical motions rather than from any
necessity of using them. The peculiarities of the machinery thus
designed may be generally stated as follows:

1 As a patent lawyer Mr. Dickerson eDjoyed a national reputation. In 1855
he was oounsel for McCormick before the Supreme Court of the United States in the
great suit involving the question of infringement of patents on harvesting machin-
ery. Associated with him in this famous case were William H. Seward and Keverdy
Johnson, while the opposing counsel were Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton and
George Harding.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 163

1. The use of large cylinders to work steam with a large meas-
ure of expansion.

2. The use of a peculiar condensing apparatus.

3. The use of an air tight fire-room.

4. The use of small boilers in proportion to the cylinders.
Four steam cylinders 58 inches in diameter and 3 feet stroke of

piston were arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the ship, the cyl-
inders being jacketed with steam belts 4^ inches in depth. The
cylinders were directly opposite each other, but instead of two
cranks, as was possible by the arrangement, the designer complica-
ted matters by having «ia>,in order to effect which, two of the con-
necting rods were made with forked ends to stride the crank of the
opposite cylinder, each arm of the fork grasping a crank of its own.
The intoxicating effect of this thing when in motion may be easily
imagined. The four cylinders with their connections and gear made
the engine plant of the Pemacola practically double in weight that
of the other sloops, a fact that did not require an engineer to detect,
and was fatal to the claim of the designers of minimizing weights.
Two surface condensers with very small circulating pumps were sup-
plied, the main dependence for effecting the circulation of water be-
ing scoops projecting from the ship's bottom, on the theory that the
remarkable speed of the ship would drive water through the condensers,
as is now done in practice on swift torpedo boats. The idea of the
air-tight fire-room was not bad, but as the blowers were originally
connected it was shown by experiment with a lamp that the air
pressure obtained was actually negative, the flame of the lamp draw-
ing inward from an open air-lock instead of being blown outward
by the pressure within. Under this state of affairs the heat of the
fire-room was so intolerable that men could not remain in it for any
length of time. Two small 5-furnace horizontal fire-tube boilers
and two 1-furnace auxiliary boilers of the same type were supplied^
the total grate surface being 234 square feet and heating surface
about 7000. Sickels' cut-off gear was of course used, the valves be-
ing set to cut off very early in the stroke, leaving Mariotte's law to
do the rest. With this valve gear applied to steam and exhaust
valves at each end of each cylinder, there was an array of lifting rods
and dash-pots, decidedly bewildering.

The requirements of the department called for a 2-bladed hoist-

164 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ing screw of the type then in favor, and the designers projected such
a screw with very fine pitch based upon a calculated engine speed of
eighty revolutions per minute, but as the work progressed they lost
faith in their calculations for speed and altered the screw by increas-
ing its pitch to conform to forty revolutions per minute. This con-
fronted them with a new and unexpected problem, for a correspond-
ing increase in the surface of the screw followed as a necessity, to
effect which the diameter was increased about four feet and four
blades substituted for two. This destroyed the hoisting feature of
the screw and necessitated throwing away all the costly brass cast-
ings for the hoisting apparatus, as well as the two-bladed screw al-
ready made. The hull had to be docked to alter the stern and deep-
en the keel to accomodate the new screw, and the ship's draft ac-
cordingly increased. This one blunder cost about $20,000, and is
only one example of manj, illustrative of what may be called
the piece-meal manner in which the designing and fitting together
of the different parts of the machinery was conducted. The result
was, that when the machinery was at last pronounced ready for trial

it had cost $308,460, or more than twice as much as that of any
other ship of the Pensaoola class.

Progressing in this tentative manner the work was necessarily
slow and sometimes came to a complete standstill for lack of knowl-
edge as to what to do next. The other ships of the class were com-
pleted and in service, the Civil War began, and still the Pensaoola
was unfinished ; so slow and uncertain did the work progress that the
designers were finally suspected of disloyalty and Mr. Sickels, who
had charge of installing the machinery, was actually put under guard
and not allowed to leave the vessel or his work. Finally Mr. Ed-
ward Faron, who had once been an engineer in the navy, was em-
ployed and put in charge of the work, his energy resulting in its
completion and a trial trip on the Potomac the 3d of January, 1862.
On this trial a maximum speed of 8.8 geographical miles per hour
was developed, this costing five pounds of coal per horse power, or
about 25 per cent, more than the Hartford or Lancaster, while the
speed was 0.7 miles less.

The Pensacola was sent at once to join Farragut's fleet off the
mouth of the Mississippi and arrived there in the course of time, af"
ter having been ashore for ten days on one of the Florida Keys,her

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 165

machinery, and engineers as well, being in a condition of semi-col-
lapse when she got in. She participated in the brilliant battle of
the forts below New Orleans and the capture of that city in April,
but was so uncertain under steam that she was thereafter used more
as a floating battery than as a reliable cruising ship. In 1865 her en-
tire machinery plant was taken out and replaced with new boilers
and engines, the latter being a pair of the 60-inch Isherwood type
built by Hazelhurst & Co., Baltimore, for a large sloop-of-war pro-
jected but never built, the name of which was Wanalosett,

Secession deprived Mr. Dickerson of his powerful Florida
friends, but his persuasive eloquence about Washington had won
him many more, with the support of whom he made himself a veri-
table thorn in the side of Engineer-in- Chief Isherwood, as well as a
source of much trouble for the Secretary of the Navy. In spite of
the object lesson furnished by the costly failure of the Pensacola,
Mr. Dickerson was able to get other opportunities to experiment with
his theories at public expense until his engineering career terminated
with the complete failure of one of the finest ships ever built in this
or any other country — the Idaho. The opportunity to make a griev-
ance out of the Pensacola affair was not neglected by Dickerson,
who had sufficient influence to have the matter made a subject for
congressional investigation, the record of which (EeportNo. 8, 38th
Congress, second session) is highly creditable to the engineering
branch of the navy, and totally lacking in elements vindicating its
instigator.

In 1864 Mr. Dickerson, as attorney in the case of Mattingly vs.
the Washington and Alexandria Steamboat Company, had an oppor-
tunity to address a jury in the supreme court of the District of Col-
umbia, on which occasion he launched forth upon a decidedly
scholarly speech which he entitled "The Navy of the United States.
An Exposure of its condition, and the Causes of its Failure." As
an example of eloquent invective this speech is worthy of classifica-
tion with the famous oration of Catiline, and its author was so proud
of it, and so confident of its destroying the reputation of his arch-
enemy, Isherwood, that he caused it to be published in pamphlet
form and distributed broadcast. It turned out however to be a case
of one's enemy writing a book and getting the worst of it. Mr.
Isherwood was altogether too busy with a multitude of official cares

166 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

to give any heed to this furious attack upon him, and, indeed, it dis-
turbed him very little, for he had been too long and too prominent
in public life to be super-sensitive to criticism. There were other
members of his corps who had more leisure and who were capable
of detecting in the Mattingly speech an opportunity for amusement
at the expense of the author, and there soon appeared an illustrated
booklet entitled "Uncle Sam's Whistle, and What it Costs," deal-
ing with Dickerson, the trial trip of the Pensacola, and the famous
speech, in a most entertaining and amusing manner. In it Dicker-
son and his theories were ridiculed so perfectly that instead of ap-
pearing before the public as the purifier and reformer of the Navy
Department, he found himself suddenly transformed into a laugh-
ing-stock for the entire engineering and naval element of the
country. The authorship of the book referred to, is somewhat in
doubt; the caricatures and sketches were made by Second Assistant
Engineer Robert Weir, and the text is generally credited to him, as
he was equally handy with pen and pencil. At any rate, the little
book was the most exquisite satire ever produced within the navy,
and was entirely successful in its purpose of turning the tables upon
the assailant of the head of the engineering branch of the service. 1

In the annual report for 1857 the Secretary of the Navy re-
ported progress on the five ships of the Richmond class and took
occasion to say that they were too large for the performance of
much of the service required of the navy on our own coasts, and
especially in China. Ten steamers of ' ' light draft, great speed and
heavy guns ' ' were recommended to meet the deficiency, to which
Congress responded by an act approved June 12, 1858, authorizing
the construction of seven screw- sloops and one side- wheel war
steamer, the result of this legislation being the acquisition of a class
of vessels whose names were familiar in the navy list for many
years.

The side-wheel steamer, of only 453 tons, was built at the new-
ly established navy yard at Mare Island near San Francisco and was
named Saginaw. The machinery was designed and built by the
Union Iron Works of San Francisco under the supervision of Chief
Engineer George Sewell, and consisted of a 2-cylinder oscillating

1 See Appendix 0.

>.h

Cfl

h-»

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

169

engine with cylinders 39 inches in diameter by 48 inches stroke, and
two 3-furnace Martin boilers aggregating 81 square feet of grate and
2000 square feet of heating surface. The water wheels were 20
feet in diameter with floats 6 feet in length. The Saginaw was com-
pleted in about a year, and in the latter part of 1859 went to the
China Station for her first service, remaining on that station until
1862 when she returned to San Francisco. Thereafter she was con-
stantly in commission attached to the Pacific squadron until October,
1870, when she was wrecked on Ocean island.

Of the seven screw sloops, four were specified to be of 13 feet
draft when ready for service, and the other three of 10 feet draft.
The following table exhibits the size, etc. , of the four larger sloops,
as well as the navy yard where each was built:

Name.

Displace-
ment.

Tonnage.

Length.

Beam.

Immersed
midship
section.

Where built.

Mohican

Iroquois

Wyoming

Dacotah

1,461
1,488
1,457
1,369

994

1,016

997

996

198'- 9"
198'-11"
198'- 5"
198'- 5"

33'

33'-10"
33'- 2"
32'. 9"

363 sq. ft.
380 " "
366 " "
365 " "

Kittery, Maine.
New York.
Philadelphia.
Norfolk, Va.

The Mohican's machinery was built by Woodruff and Beach,
Hartford, Conn., under the supervision of Chief Engineer D. B.
Martin, and consisted of a 2-cylinder back-acting engine with
cylinders 54 inches in diameter by 30 inches stroke, supplied with a
Pirsson's condenser, and two Martin boilers. Pease & Murphy of
New York built the machinery for the Iroquois, which was of the
same type as that of the Mohican, the boilers being slightly smaller
and the stroke of pistons 28 instead of 30 inches. The machinery
for the Wyoming was by Merrick & Sons, Philadelphia, inspected
by Chief Engineer Edward Whipple. The engines were direct-
acting with two cylinders 50 inches in diameter by 30 inches stroke,
and had a close surface condenser of Mr. Merrick's design. The
boilers were of the same type but considerably smaller than those
of either the Mohican or Iroquois. Murray & Hazlehurst of Balti-
more built the machinery of the Dacotah, which was radically diff-
erent from that of the other sloops. Two large direct-acting en-

170 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

gines, 63 inches diameter by 36 inches stroke, drove a huge wooden-
toothed gear wheel, which in turn drove > a pinion keyed to the pro-
peller shaft, the speed ratio being as 9 to 4. The engines were
designed for a speed of 36 revolutions per minute, or 81 of the
screw, which was about the same as the direct speed of the other
vessels. The boilers of the Dacotah, two in number, were of the
horizontal return fire-tube variety, instead of the Martin type then
so generally used. Chief Engineer H. H. Stewart was the superin-
tendent of construction of this machinery. The four vessels were
all completed and in service by the end of 1859, the Mohican being
on the coast of Africa, the Iroquois in the Mediterranean, the Wy-
oming in the Pacific, and the Dacotah on her way to join the Asiatic
squadron. All of them showed a speed under steam alone in smooth
water of about 11.5 knots per hour, and averaged 8 knots for gen-
eral performance at sea.

The three smaller sloops were the Narragansett, Seminole, and
Pawnee, all good and appropriate American names, like most of the
names bestowed upon our war vessels in those days. The Narra-
gansett was of 1,235 tons displacement and was built at the Boston
navy yard, the machinery being built by the Boston Locomotive
Works. She had a pair of direct-acting engines with cylinders 48
inches in diameter by 28 inches stroke of piston, driving a 4-
bladed screw 12 feet in diameter. Pirsson's double-vacuum con-
denser was used. The boilers, two in number, were of the usual
Martin type, containing 200 square feet of grate surface and about
6,150 square feet of heating surface. The Narragansett was com-
pleted and in commission by the end of 1859, sailing shortly there-
after for the Pacific station.

The Seminole, built at the navy yard, Pensacola, Florida, was
a sister-ship of the Narragansett and similar to her in all principal
dimensions. Her machinery was built by the Morgan Iron Works,
New York, and consisted of a pair of back-acting horizontal engines
with cylinders 50 inches diameter by 30 inches stroke, and two
Martin boilers slightly smaller than those of the Narragansett. The
Seminole went to the Brazil station in 1860 and was recalled in
1861 in time to take an active part in the battle of Port Royal in
November of that year. Later she served in Farragut's West Gulf
squadron and participated in the battle of Mobile Bay, going into
action lashed alongside the Lackawanna.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

173

The third of these sloops, the Pawnee, differed much from the
other two in the form of her hull and in the feature of having twin
screws. She was built by the government at the Philadelphia
navy yard, but from the designs and under the supervision of a
civilian ship-builder, Mr. John W. Griffiths of New York, who held
a temporary appointment as a naval constructor while directing this
work. It had been determined to arm the Pawnee with four XI-
inch Dahlgren guns, and it was to demonstrate that this could be
done without exceeding the specified draft of ten feet that Mr.
Griffiths was employed. The resulting vessel was considerably
longer and broader than the others of her class and of somewhat
less than ten feet draft when armed and equipped for service, a fact
that made her of great use with her heavy battery in the shallow
rivers of the southern coast during the war. Besides having to
carry the unusually large battery, the engines to drive the two screws

ELEVATION, LOOKING AFT, OF TWIN-SCKEW SEARED ENGINES, V. S. 8. PAWNEE.

a, cylinder, b, condenser, c, master-wheel, d-d, screw-shaft pinions.

were considerably heavier than in other vessels of the class, and
this necessitated further calculation on the part of the constructor,
who so modified the form of the hull that when the vessel was com-
pleted her bottom was actually concave.

The Pawnee was 221 feet 6 inches long; 47 feet beam; 1,533
tons displacement and rated at 1,289 tons burden. Chief engineers
Wm, W. W. Wood and E. H. Long superintended the building of
the machinery at the works of Beanie & Neafie, Philadelphia,
there being two horizontal direct- acting cylinders 65 inches in

174 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

diameter by 36 inches stroke, driving a large gear wheel 7 feet 3
inches in diameter, this driving two smaller wheels keyed to the
two shafts, the small wheels or pinions being 2 feet 11 inches dia-
meter of pitch circle. The master wheel was somewhat to port of
the center line of the ship, as shown by the outline sketch of this
unusual type of engine. There were two 7-furnace horizontal re-
turn fire-tubular boilers containing 133 square feet of grate surface
each. The propellers were four-bladed, nine feet in diameter, and
instead of being supported by struts under the counters, the shafts
were prolonged to the stern post where they were upheld by a cross-
bar, the screws being at the ends of the shafts.

This vessel was launched in 1859 but was not completed for
sea until the spring of 1861 when she at once became actively en-
gaged in warlike operations along the Atlantic coast, her first im-
portant service being at the destruction of the Norfolk navy yard
in April. During the same year she took part in the attack on
Hatteras Inlet in August and in the battle of Port Royal in Novem-
ber. During the following years of the war she was attached to
the South Atlantic blockading squadron and did much important
service on the coast of Florida and elsewhere. After the war she
made one cruise to the Brazil station and then became a hospital and
store-ship at home, being finally sold out of the service at Port
Royal in 1884.

In February, 1855, the Water Witch, which for years had
been engaged in exploring La Plata River and its tributaries, was
forcibly prevented from further prosecuting that work by being
fired upon by a Paraguayan fort commanding the river, the man on
duty at the wheel at the time being killed. Attempts to gain re-
dress by diplomatic methods having been steadily repulsed by
Lopez, the autocratic president of Paraguay, our government was
finally forced to resort to a show of power, and late in the year 1858
a squadron of nineteen naval vessels carrying two hundred guns and
twenty- five hundred men was assembled in the river under command
of Flag Officer W. B. Shubrick. Nine of these vessels were sailing
frigates, sloops-of-war and brigs, the other ten being small steamers
capable of ascending the river. Two of the steamers, the Fulton
and Water Witch belonged to the regular naval establishment; an-
other was the revenue cutter Harriet Lane, named for the neice of

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 175

President Buchanan, and the others were merchant steamers char-
tered and armed for the occasion. Six of them were screw steam-
ers varying from 220 to 550 tons burden and were named Memphis,
Atlanta, Caledonia, Southern Star, Western/port, and M. W.
Chopin, the seventh, the Metacomet, being a side-wheel steamer of
395 tons. Thirty-eight officers of the engineer corps were attached
to these vessels.

All the steamers and such of the sailing vessels as were per-
mitted by their draft of water were moved up the river to a point
above Rosario, ready to act against Paraguay if necessary, and in
January 1859 the Flag Officer and Mr. Bowlin, the special commiss-
ioner of the United States, proceeded in the Fulton and Water Witch
to Assuncion, the capital of Paraguay. No difficulty was then ex-
perienced in gaining a respectful hearing and the object of the mis-
sion was fully and peacefully accomplished. A satisfactory apol-
ogy was extended for firing on the Water Witch; an indemnity was
paid on the spot for the benefit of the family of the seaman who
had been killed, and the special envoy negotiated a new and ad-
vantageous commercial treaty with the Paraguayan government.
Without the steamers the successful termination of this expedition
would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, Paraguay
lying so far inland that natural obstacles would have prevented an
approach by troops on land or by sailing vessels on the river except
at an enormous outlay of life and money.

When the squadron returned to the United States the chartered
steamers were purchased and added to the naval establishment,
about one-half of their cost price being money already paid or due
the owners for their charters. After purchase, the names were
changed as follows: Metacomet to Pulaski; Memphis to Mystic;
Weslernport to Wyandotte; Caledonia to Mohawk; Atlanta to Sum-
ter; Southern Star to Orusader; M. W. Chopin to Anaoostia. The
side- wheel vessel, the Pulaski, was kept on the Brazil station doing
exploring and other river service until 1863, when she was sold at
Montevideo. The smallest of the screw steamers, the Anacosti,
became a navy yard tender and coastwise transport attached to the
Washington navy yard, and the five other screw steamers were put
on active cruising duty on the coasts of Cuba and Africa, in the
suppression of the slave trade. All did good service during the

176 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Civil War, and all were sold at its close with the exception of the
/Swnter, which had been sunk in 1863 by an accidental collision
with the army transport General Meigs.

In the naval appropriation act approved June 22nd, 1860, a
clause directed the Secretary of the Navy to have all the sailing
vessels of the navy surveyed with a view to converting them into
steamers. This duty was performed by a board composed of Cap-
tains George W. Storer and S. H. Stringham; Engineer-in-Chief
Archbold and Chief Engineer Isherwood; Chief Constructor John
Lenthal, and Naval Constructor B. F. Delano; the vessels which
were abroad and therefore not accessible, were reported upon from
their records and drawings in the department. The report of the
board was, that it was not expedient to introduce steam into the
brigs, sloops and frigates, but that it was desirable in the case of
the ships of the line, which class was recommended to be razeed
and converted into first-class steam frigates. The Secretary of the
Navy transmitted this report to Congress with his annual report at
the end of that year, and urged that the recommendation be carried
out, on the ground that, "in the event .of war no one of these line-
of -battle ships, in the present state of steam navigation, could go
to sea with a reasonable degree of safety. ' ' The work would un-
doubtedly have been authorized by Congress that winter had not
events of startling magnitude intervened to split both Congress and
the navy in twain, and made the problem of strengthening the
steam navy one that could not be met by the make-shift of patch-
ing up old sailing ships.

CHAPTEK XL

"Ev'n now we hear with inward strife
A motion toiling in the gloom —
The spirit of the years to come
Yearning to mix himself with life."

Alfred Tennyson.

The Engineer Corps from 1850 to the Beginning of the Civil War— Congress Peti-
tioned to Increase the Corps— Pay Increased by United Efforts of All Offi-
cers— Bank of Engineers Defined — Issue of New Regulations Governing
Appointment and Promotion— Opinions of Chief Engineer Gay in Belation to
Sails and Steam.

The membership of the engineer corps provided by the act of
Congress of 1842 was based upon the number of steamers in the
navy at the time, and made no provision for the performance of
shore duty, except by the engineer-in-chief, thus compelling him
to obtain technical assistance either from civilian engineers
employed as clerks or draftsmen, or naval engineers who
might be unemployed because of a steam war vessel having been
put out of commission. The inspection work required of the
engineer corps by the building of the Powhatan and other steamers
at the same time, had with great difficulty been provided for; but
had imposed upon the engineer-in- chief a vast amount of care and
professional labor, greater in fact than one man could perform. In
this dilemma the engineers petitioned Congress for relief, this me-
morial having been preserved in official form as Senate Miscellane-
ous Document No. 45, 32d Congress, 1st session, is herewith pre-
sented.

MEMORIAL
OF

Engineers of the Navy,

PRATING
A REORGANIZATION OF THE CORPS TO WHICH THET BELONG.

February 24, 1852.

Kef erred to the Committee on Naval Affairs

February 25, 1852.

Ordered to be Printed.

178 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

To t/te Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled :

't>'

The undersigned respectfully represent to your honorable bodies
the utter inadequacy of the present organization of the engineer
corps of the United States navy, and most earnestly solicit your at-
tention to the following brief statement of facts in proof of this
assertion, and in support of the propositions herewith submitted.

The law of OongresB authorizing the present organization of the
engineer corps was established in the very infancy of our steam ma-
rine— at the time of constructing our first steam ship as an experiment.
At that date neither a rapid increase of steamers nor an enlarged
sphere of duties for the naval engineers, such as has since taken
place, was contemplated; and the organization was accordingly made
on a basis to meet the limited duties, both in extent and kind,
which were intended to be performed by the corps.

Those limited duties were to be entirely performed afloat on the
Atlantic coast of the United States, and their sphere of action was
to be confined to the management of the machinery of a few second
class vessels, for home service exclusively, to which it was proposed
to restrict our steam marine. It is scarcely necessary here to state
that these expectations were never, even from the first, realized, aud
the engineers of the naval corps at once entered upon a wide and
very responsible range of duties combining all of theory and prac-
tice known in the extensively ramified arts and sciences; making up a
thorough knowledge of the principles and practice of marine steam
engineering and steam navigation — a knowledge which it is believed
will not be contested by any qualified to judge, to demand quite as
much natural ability, united with as deep study and long practice, as
are required for any other profession; certainly for any of those com-
posing the various corps in the government service.

Some of the duties of the engineer corps are briefly stated as
follows: thoy decide upon and design the various complex machinery
of the government war steamers; furnishing, first, the working
drawings in the most complete detail, then superintending its manu-
facture at the various establishments where it is contracted to bo
built, and afterwards its erection on board the vessels; finally they
operate this machinery at sea.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 179

The machinery so designed and constructed is of the largest,
most complicated and costly description, frequently amounting in a
first-class steam-ship to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is
manufactured by contract at the various works where the Navy de-
partment may direct, and naval engineers are the sole guardians of
the public interest, where the expenditures constitute a formidable
fraction of the naval appropriations. They furnish the only barrier
to peculation on the government, and the fraudulent performance of
contracts, if such were attempted.

The amounts and kinds of labor done are determined by and
paid for wholly on the certificates of the superintending engineer
and the engineer-in-chief.

Having thus shown, as we trust, to the satisfaction of your
honorable bodies, the importance of having at all times in the coun-
try, on shore duty, a sufficient number of engineers of the higher
grades to discharge the above mentioned responsibilities, we proceed
to show that in this very particular the present organization is de-
fective. The act of 1842 only provides for the appointment of a
sufficient number of engineers of all grades to supply our war steam-
ers, leaving no margin for sickness or other disability, and making
no provision whatever either for the supply of the many steamers
attached to the coast survey, or for the designing and superintending
the construction of such new machinery as the continually increasing
wants of the service may require. It therefore follows, as the nec-
essary consequence, either that the duty afloat must be performed
by an insufficient number of engineers — and those, too, taken from
the lower grades, not possessing the requisite experience and knowl-
edge for its proper performance — or the more important, and indeed
paramount, shore duties must be neglected.

The Department has therefore preferred the former, rather than
incur the loss and inconvenience of the latter. From the very
commencement of the steam navy there has scarcely ever been a
steamship in commission with the full complement of engineers.
Those Engineers, therefore, who are ordered on duty afloat — a duty
which tasks arduously their physical qualities— have thrown upon
them a much greater amount than can fairly be performed with jus-
tice, either to themselves or the government. And if the latter
alternative were preferred, and the service afloat filled with the pre-

180 THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES.

scribed number of Engineers, it would keep the whole corps at sea,
continually absent from their families, and without the rotation of
shore duty enjoyed by other officers of the navy.

The present organization allows one chief engineer, (commis-
sioned by the President), two first assistant, two second assistant,
and three third assistant engineers, for each steamer-of-war. All
the assistant engineers hold their appointments by warrant of the
Honorable Secretary of the Navy.

The present number of steamers-of-war actually in commission
is ten, and in the course of four months five more will probably be
added — making fifteen, in all, in commission by the first of June
next.

The present organization authorizes the appointment of fifteen
chief, thirty first assistant, thirty second assistant, and forty-five
third assistant engineers. Now, by the first of June, next, twelve
chief, twenty-seven first assistant, twenty-seven second assistant,
and thirty-nine third assistant engineers will be required for service
afloat, in naval steamers, leaving but three chief and twel/oe assist-
ant engineers to perform the various shore duties, and engineer the
six coast survey steamers. From this it will be seen how insufficient
the present organization is, to provide for even a reasonable approx-
imation of the requisite number.

Further : the original organization contemplating only a provis-
ion for the management of the machinery of the steam ships, provides
merely for a chief engineer afloat as the highest grade ; but, as has
been before shown, the construction of this machinery has been also
superintended by the engineers of the navy. Now, it is well known
that designing and constructing machinery requires a much higher
order of ability than its after management ; and when the two du-
ties are to be performed by the same Corps, those distinct offices
should be performed by distinct grades — those of the highest talent
being taken from the one to form the other.

The organization of 1842 is, therefore, insufficient, in not hav-
ing this provision, and we suggest to your honorable bodies the
propriety of adding another grade, formed from the present grade
of chief engineers, (without increase of pay), to be called '■'■Inspect-
ors of Machinery Ashore and Afloat. ' ' In the British Navy, the
necessities of their largest steam marine have already compelled the

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 181

organization here recommended, and from them the title of "In-
spectors of Machinery" is borrowed.

Another reason for enlarging the engineer corps is furnished by
the fact that a considerable extension of our steam marine must soon
be made, and it is impossible to create good naval engineers as fast
as it is possible to build steamships.

All other corps are sufficiently numerous to anticipate a consid-
erable increase of the navy, while the engineers are too few even
for the present service. Were a sudden enlargement of the steam
marine now to be made, the Engineer Corps will have to be filled
with such talent as could be immediately commanded — not such as
would be desired — and the public interests would inevitably suffer
as a consequence.

We would urge upon your honorable bodies the strong proba-
bility, which will scarcely be contested by any who have bestowed
the proper reflection upon the subject, that in 20 years there will be
no naval vessels unpropelled in whole or in part by steam. The
introduction of steam for all marine war purposes will be compelled
by necessity and the pressure of circumstances.

In conclusion, we, your memorialists, would state, that in our
opinion the following additions to the present organization are neces-
sary to render the engineer corps equal to the performance of the
services required of it, viz :

The addition of the higher grade of Inspector of machinery
ashore and afloat. An inspector of machinery ashore to be allowed for
each of the principal navy yards, and a chief engineer for each of
the other navy yards ; also, an assistant engineer of each grade for
each navy-yard. An inspector of machinery afloat to be allowed
for each squadron containing two or more steamers.

The inspector of machinery for the Washington Navy Yard
to be attached to the office of engineer-in-chief of the Navy and
to perform such duties as the engineer-in- chief may require of

him.

The inspectors of machinery to receive the same pay and be
entitled to the same privileges and immunities in all respects as
chief engineers, and to be commissioned in the same manner as
Chief Engineers.

The inspectors of machinery now required to be selected by the

182 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Hon. Secretary of the Navy from the present grade of Chief En-
gineers, but that thereafter all promotions to that grade to be made
by examination by a Board of Inspectors of machinery.

Believing the above facts to be truthfully stated and relying on
the wisdom and justice of your honorable bodies, we respectfully
solicit for them a favorable consideration.

Chaeles B. Stuart,
Engineer-in-Chief, U. S. N. Navy.

B. F. Ishbewood,
Chief Engineer U. S. N. for the
grade of Chief Engineer.

J. W. King,

First Assistant Engineer U. S. N.
For the grade of Asst. Engineer.

A bill providing for more engineers on the lines of the petition
was favorably reported by the naval committees of Congress, but
like the great majority of naval bills, failed to reach a vote through
lack of interest in Congress and external opposition. Soon after-
ward work was begun on the large screw frigates described in the
preceding chapter, and this provided the opportunity of appointing
engineers for them before they were completed, nearly fifty new
members being added to the corps in the next three years and thirty
more in the year 1857.

In 1856 the engineers joined with all other branches of the
service in an organized effort to obtain an increase of pay from
Congress ; this effort is noteworthy from the fact, that probably it is
the only instance on record where all the corps of the navy laying
aside their rivalries and jealousies honestly worked together for a
common purpose, also for the more especial and important reason
that their united effort was successful.

The writer has been fortunate enough to have been given a copy
of a circular letter prepared by the officers' committee in Washing-
ton and sent to all officers of the service, directing the manner to be
observed in furthering their endeavor, which letter is here repro-
duced as an instructive example of the method of going about the
difficult task of securing legislation for the navy.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 183

"Washington, December, 8, 1856.
' Sib : At a meeting of Naval Officers, held in this city on
the 6th instant, with the view of concert of action in advocating
the necessity of a general increase of pay for the Navy, the follow-
ing officers were unanimously appointed a committee, charged with
the management of the memorial to which your signature is ap-
pended, viz :

W. W. Hunter, Commander.

Charles Steedman, "

Thomas B. Neille, Purser.

Maxwell Woodhull, Lieutenant.

Eoger N. Stembel,

Henry A. Wise,

Joel S. Kennard,

William G. Temple,

John M. Brooke,

A. W. Johnson,

Robert Wood worth, Surgeon.

Mordecai Yarnall, Professor of Mathematics.

William Chauvenet, " " "

Joseph S. Hubbard, " " "

Montgomery Fletcher, First Assistant Engineer.

James C. Warner, " " "

"On the evening following, a sub-commiitee was appointed
from this Body, under instructions to wait on the Hon. Secretary
of the Navy, present the Memorial officially, make known the views
of the memorialists, the action which had been already taken, and
to consult with him as to the course most promissory of success.

' ' The Secretary suggested the presentation of the Memorial
to Congress through the Chairman of the Naval Committees, and
that if any suggestions as to the mode of increase were elicited from
the Committee, the most simple should be offered ; he has no objec-
tion to the exercise of whatever personal influence officers may pos-
sess with Members of Congress in furtherance of our object, but
he will not approve indiscriminate approach to these gentlemen ;
indeed such action would not comport with the dignity of our posi-
tion as members of the Naval profession.

184 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

' ' The Secretary, although sensible of the necessity and propri-
ety of our application for an increase of pay, and willing to heartily
second our efforts in that direction, is not disposed to favor per cent-
age on sea-service ; he is of opinion that such a mode of increase
would not be strictly just in its operation on the higher grades of
the service.

" At a subsequent meeting of the General Committee it was
unanimously resolved : ' That, if our suggestions upon the subject
were solicited by the Naval Committees, we should simply state,
that, in our opinion, an addition of thirty per cent, to our present
pay, all around, and in each grade, would not be taxing too much
,the liberality of Congress. '

" As a matter of course, the Naval Committees, should they
require information upon this subject, will direct its enquiries to the
Head of the Navy Department. So far as individual action of the
officers is concerned, judicious management and unanimity of
opinion is certainly necessary. It is with this view, and to prevent
embarrassment, which might result in a defeat of the object con-
templated, that we address to you this circular. This Committee,
acting in the spirit of fairness and justice, would claim your confi-
dence and earnest support.

" It is a well-known fact, that the expression of adverse views
upon Naval matters before Congress tends to obstruct the action of
that body, and we beg that in the exercise of whatever personal
force you may be able to bring to the advancement and success of this
measure, you will support the recommendation of your committee."

A bill entitled "A bill to increase and regulate the
pay of the navy," was introduced and experienced the various
vicissitudes of bills for two congresses, finally becoming a law on
the 1st of June, 1860. By the terms of the act an increase of pay
of about twenty-five per cent, in every grade and corps was pro-
vided for, and a longevity scale adopted, the majority of the grades
being provided with four rates of pay increasing with length of ser-
vice. The following rates were fixed for the engineer corps:

Chief Engineers, (on duty).

For first five years after date of commission $1,800

For second five years after date of commission 2,200

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 185

For third five years after date of commission $2,450

After fifteen years from date of commission 2,600

On leave, or waging okdees.

For first five years after date of commission $1,200

For second five years after date of commission 1,300

For third five years after date of commission 1,400

After fifteen years from date of commission 1,600

First Assistant Engineers.

On duty $1,250

On leave, or waiting orders 900

Second Assistant Engineers.

On duty $1,000

On leave, or waiting orders 750

Third Assistant Engineers.

On duty $ 750

On leave, or waiting orders 600

In January 1859 Mr. Toucey, the Secretary of the Navy,
issued the following general order conferring naval rank upon the
officers of the engineer corps:

" Chief engineers of more than twelve years will rank with
commanders.

"Chief engineers of less than twelve years with lieutenants.

" First assistant engineers next after lieutenants.

" Second assistant engineers next after masters.

' ' Third assistant engineers with midshipmen.

"This order confers no authority to exercise military command,
except in the discharge of their duties, and no additional right to
quarters."

This order was affirmed by Congress March 3, 1859, with the
words " except in the discharge of their duties " stricken out,
which omission merely served to emphasize the embarrassment of

186 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

the engineers in controlling their own men aboard ship, where their
authority was necessarily military, or else no authority at all.

Orders defining the rank of surgeons and paymasters, similar
to the above, had been in existence for some time and the status
thus conferred was generally satisfactory to the staff officers. That
it was not satisfactory to others is shown by the fact that the de-
partment had to re-affirm the staff officers' rank by the following
order, issued February 25, 1861:

' ' Surgeons of the fleet, surgeons, paymasters, and chief en-
gineers of more than twelve years, rank with commanders. Sur-
geons, paymasters, and chief engineers of less than twelve years,
rank with lieutenants. Passed assistant surgeons and first assistant
engineers rank next after lieutenants. Assistant surgeons and
second assistant engineers next after masters, and third assistant
engineers with midshipmen.

" This rank is now established by law, and neither the depart-
ment nor any officer in command has authority to withhold it, or the
honors which belong to it.

' ' Commanding and executive officers of whatever grade, while
on duty, take precedence of surgeons, paymasters and engineers,
and the effect of this precedence is to elevate the former, but not to
depress the latter, or to detract from the rank or the honors of the
rank already secured to them. Commanders, while on duty as
commanding officers, will have a corporal's guard. Lieutenants,
while on duty as executive officers, will wear on the cuffs a gold
embroidered star, one inch and a quarter in diameter, to be placed
one half of an inch above the stripe of gold lace, and these will
indicate the precedence to which they are by law entitled."

An entirely new schedule of requirements for admission and
promotion of officers in the engineer corps was issued in 1859; the
regulations in full are as follows:

Beoulations for Admission and Promotion in the Engineer Corps.

Before persons can be appointed assistant engineers in the navy,
they must have passed a satisfactory examination before a board of
at least three engineers, designated at such times as the wants of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 187

the service require. Application for permission to appear be-
fore such board must be made in writing to the Secretary of the
Navy, accompanied by satisfactory testimonials as to good moral
character, correct habits, and sound constitution. The application
will be registered, and when a board next meets, permission will be
sent to the applicant, stating the time and place of the meeting of
the Board.

In the examination for a third assistant engvneer, the candidate
must be able to describe all the different parts of ordinary condens-
ing and non-condensing engines, and explain their uses and their
mechanical operation; to explain the manner of putting engines in
operation, how to regulate and modify their action, and the manner
of guarding against danger from the boilers, by the means usually
applied to them for that purpose. He will be expected to write a
fair, legible hand, and to be well acquainted with arithmetic and the
mensuration of surfaces and solids of the regular forms; to have
worked not less than one year in a marine engine manufactory, and
present testimonials of his mechanical ability from the director of
the establishment in which he may have served. He must not be less
than twenty nor more than twenty-six years of age.

Candidates for promotion to the rank of second assistant engineer
must have served at least two years as third assistants in the manage-
ment of steam engines in the navy in actual service, must produce
testimonials of good conduct from the commanders and senior engi-
neers of the vessels in which they may have served, and must pass
a satisfactory examination upon the subjects, and to the extent pre-
scribed for third assistants; they must likewise be able to explain
the peculiarities of the different kinds of valves, the construction of
expansion valves, the manner of their operation, the remedies which
are usually resorted to, to check foaming in boilers ; must possess a
knowledge of the usual causes of derangement in the operation of
air pumps, force pumps, and feed pipes, the proper preventives and
remedies, and the mode of cleaning boilers when required. They
must have a general knowledge of the mensuration of surfaces and
solids.

Before promotion to the rank of first assistant engineer candi-
dates mu6t have been employed at least three years as second assis-
tant engineers in the management of steam engines in actual service,

188 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

and produce testimonials of character and good conduct from their
former commanders and superior engineers ; must pass a satisfactory
examination upon the subjects prescribed for third and second assis-
tants, the mechanical powers, the different kinds of deposits and in-
crustations to which boilers are exposed, and be able to furnish a
working sketch or drawing of different parts of engines and boilers;
to superintend their construction, and determine upon their accuracy
and fitness for use.

Promotions to the grade of chief engineer are to be made after
the candidate has served for two years as first assistant engineer in
the management of steam engines in the navy in sea service, and
has been examined upon any of the subjects specified for assistant,
which the board may deem expedient, and after they shall have sat-
isfied the board of their previous good conduct and character, of
their sufficient knowledge of mechanics and natural philosophy, of
the forms, arrangements, and principles of different kinds of steam
engines, boilers, propellers, and their various dependencies, which
have been successfully applied to steam vessels, and their alleged
relative advantages, for sea or river service, and shall have attained
26 years of age.

Candidates for promotion who may fail to pass a satisfactory
examination may be examined once again, and if they fail to pass
at the second examination they shall be dropped from the list of en-
gineers.

Candidates for admission or promotion will be required to fur-
nish the board of examiners with evidence of their abilities in the ex-
ecution of mechanical drawings, and their proficiency in penmanship.

The examining board will report the relative qualifications of
the persons examined, and number them, giving the best qualified
the lowest number.

> When, in the opinion of the department, the wants of the ser-
vice require the admission of engineers of any grade above that of
third assistant, the same qualifications and restrictions as to times of
service will be exacted as by the regulations required for promotion
to the grade in question: Provided, that all appointments to the
grade of second assistant shall be made between the ages of 21 and
28; and to that of first assistant, between 25 and 32; and to that of
Chief engineer, between 28 and 35.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 189

The assistants must employ all favorable opportunities for ac-
quiring a practical knowledge of the fabrication of the different parts
of steam engines and their dependencies, that they may be able to
repair or replace such parts as the space and means for making and
repairing can be furnished in steam vessels. When other qualifica-
tions are equal, candidates whose skill and abilities in these particu-
lars are superior, will have precedence over others for admission or
promotion, who may be considered equal in other particulars.

Isaac Toucey,

Secretary of the Navy.
Navy Department, May 7, 1859.

During this decade immediately preceding the Civil War the
supremacy of steam power over sails as a means of marine locomo-
tion came to be very generally admitted in the naval service, even
by the most conservative, and the work of creating an efficient steam
fleet was begun in earnest. Of the many opinions and reports origi-
nating in the navy about this time and dealing with the subject of
steam versus sails, one of the most interesting and valuable that has
been preserved is a letter by Chief Engineer Jesse Gay of the Miss-
issippi which exhibits so much good practical sense in looking at the
question, that it is here copied for the benefit of a younger genera-
tion of naval officers, some of Mr. Gay's views even yet being
pertinent to naval economy.

U. S. Steamer Mississippi,

At Sea, November 8, 1851.

Sib: After long experience on board of this ship, a careful obser-
vation of the defects, with a wish to render her more efficient, I take
the liberty to make the following observations, and suggest improve-
ments, which, if adopted, will render the Mississippi more useful,
efficient and safe.

The objects to be attained in a War Steamer are, first, weight
of battery. Second, speed by steam, with an economical expendi-
ture of coals. Third, to combine her steam and sails, so that one
shall not be transported at the expense of the other. A ship of war,
without guns, would be perfectly defenseless; a war steamer, with
encumbrance on her steam power, is equally so. The sails of the

190 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Mississippi are auxiliary to her steam; with her sails unaided by the
engines, she is helpless ; on the other hand her engines are sufficient
to handle her without the assistance of sails. The conclusion is,
therefore, that the less the engines are encumbered with the spars
and sails, which are useless, the better for efficiency and safety.
Again, if a ship is overburdened with sails, spars, steam engines,
boilers, besides any useless weight, it deducts the same number of
pounds from her battery, or immerses her to a dangerous depth in
the water, obstructs, her speed, and occasions a useless expenditure
of coal, for which a small compensation is obtained.

The spars and sails of the Mississippi are too large ; if they were
reduced to the proper size, her speed would be augmented more than
one knot per hour, allowing her to draw the same water. The en-
gines not only have her vast hull to propel, but the great surface of
spars, which are a great obstruction to the speed. It is supposed
the larger the sails the more assistance they are capable of rendering.
This is a mistaken idea, as experience abundantly has shown; a pro-
per area of sails is unquestionably advantageous, but this area must
not exceed a limit at which they would be an obstruction to speed
by steam. When the winds are fair, a six knot breeze is required
before the sails are of any use in propelling the ship conjointly with
steam power; if the winds are strong a large spread of canvas is
dangerous. In a storm, only a sufficient quantity is necessary to
steady the ship, and this will of course be, fore and aft sails. With
light fair winds, the power of the engines will bring light airs ahead;
thus, a steamer will most of the time have light airs ahead, or occa-
sionally aft, but not in sufficient force to make her sails effective;
hence, it is clear that her great spars are an encumbrance to her
speed under most of these circumstances; the mainsail cannot be
carried— the main topsail has seldom been used — studding sails have
been useless — fore topsail useful — top-gallant sails seldom — fore-
topmast stay-sail and jib useful. The useful sails are fore and main
trysails, fore topmast stay sail and jib, and occasionally the spanker
with effect. With moderate or fresh breezes ahead, the top gallant
sails are necessarily sent down; in strong head winds, lower yards
and top masts are also sent down. In fine weather all these spars
are again sent up to improve the appearance of the ship. All this
has to be done at the expense of labor of the crew, while the very

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 191

spars which are so often sent up and down are seldom of any use in
propelling the ship. The ship may be propelled by the aid of her
sails, but in a very awkard manner; the first difficulty, the crew is
far too small to handle her immense sails with sufficient promptitude;
in the second place, the mainmast is so far abaft the centre of mo-
tion that all the sails upon it, (except with a wind directly aft), are
of but little or no use; the foremast is also too far forward. All
these difficulties it is impossible to obviate; with sails alone she is a
clumsy ship, hardly capable of handling herself; she never can be
an auxiliary steamer with her masts in their present position, the
most important of which cannot be moved (the main). But these
are not all the difficulties ; the great length of spars produce another
difficulty of equal damage to her efficiency, which must exist with
her great spars, viz: spare sails, spars and rigging must be put into
the sbip to the amount of many tons; this weight only adds to her im-
mersion and reduces her speed; or, in other words, it requires a
portion of her steam power to transport this useless weight, which
does nothing to efficiency, speed or safety. As I before remarked,
all the unnecessary weight put into a War Steamer, deducts the
same from her general efficiency and safety. On two occasions she
has been fitted for a cruise with all the spare material on board,
which rendered her dangerously deep and almost unfit for sea, and
1 believe a very small proportion of these sails and spare spars have
ever been used, for the purpose for which they were put on board.

To remedy the difficulties I have enumerated, I suggest that
the spars, including lower masts, be reduced to a proper dimension,
which would not exceed in weight more than one half the present
ones; this would be a reduction of many tons, beside the reduction
of weight of spare spars, sails and rigging, the saving to convert to
more useful purposes room which it now occupies, and with this re-
duction the sails, rigging, etc., would be useful, where now it is so
unwieldly as not to be used at all. Again, if this reduction was
made, the sails and spars would be proportioned to her crews, and
could then be worked with ease, where now they cannot.

Besides the reduction of spars, she requires a reduction in the
weight of her anchors (she now carries four, which weigh 63 cwt.
each; she only requires two, or if four, of much less weight than the
present) this would also reduce the weight of chain. At no time du-

192 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ring this cruise has she required more than two anchors; late in the
cruise a much smaller one was substituted for one of the above
weight; this has been found sufficient and much less labor to work it.

I am of the opinion that a steamer is more secure with two
anchors (and not extremely heavy ones) than a sailing ship is with
four. The engines themselves are a greater security than two an-
chors; hence, a steamer does not require so great weight of anchor.

If the forgoing suggestions were followed out the Mississippi
could then carry two or four more guns, and draw less water than she
now does; her speed. would be augmented with the same expenditure
of coal. She would have more room to berth her crew, which she
much needs; her expenses would be reduced, and she would be more
formidable; but if her present spars are retained, all of these quali-
ties, which are so important in a war steamer, will be lost.

In submitting these views, which I have gathered from experi-
ence on board the Mississippi, I have felt some delicacy, knowing
that I have ventured opinions which do not accord with theory.
What I have submitted is based upon practical observations alone,
for the correctness and verity of which I appeal to every experienc-
ed officer who has sailed in her any length of time. I have also had
opportunity of seeing many foreign war steamers, particularly those
of England and France; the difference between them and the Missi-
issippi is, they carry less spars and more guns. 1 have not seen a
war steamer of any nation carrying so heavy spars as the Mississippi,
but I have frequently met with those of much less tonnage and
power, carrying a much greater weight of battery.
I am very respectfully,

Tour obedient servant,

Jesse Gay,
Oapt. John C. Long, Chief Engineer.

Com. U. S. Steamer Mississippi.

CHAPTEK XII.

"There's a demon, and he dwelleth in the drum ;
See the volunteers as down the street they come.
Proudly the procession marches,
Under bunting, under arches,
To the rattle, rattle, rattle,
Like a volley belched in battle,
And he saith :
I am Cain come again ; on my forehead is the stain.

Come,

Come, come, come —

Unto Death." — Francis Z. Stone.

THE CIVIL WAR.

IN Captain Collum's excellent history of the United States Marine
Corps he prefaces his account of the services of the marines
during the war of the rebellion with an extract from Lossing's
"Civil War in America," which outlines most eloquently the ser-
vices rendered by the navy to the nation during that gigantic
struggle for life. So correctly is the arduous and baffling character
of the naval operations indicated, and so gracefully is the praise due
the navy accorded, that the author feels he cannot do better than
introduce the same extract as a prelude to what he will have to say
regarding the achievements of the naval engineers during that same
trying period.

" In the spring of the year 1861 a civil war was kindled in the
United States of America which has neither a pattern in character
nor a precedent in causes recorded in the history of mankind. It
appears in the annals of the race as a mighty phenomenon, but not
an inexplicable one. Gazers upon it at this moment, when its
awfully grand and mysterious proportions rather fill the mind with
wonder than excite the reason, look for the half -hid den springs of
its existence in different directions among the absurdities of theory.
There is a general agreement, however, that the terrible war was
clearly the fruit of a conspiracy against the nationality of the
republic, and an attempt, in defiance of the laws of divine equity, to

194 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

establish an empire upon a basis of injustice and a denial of the

dearest rights of man It was the rebellion of an

oligarchy against the people, with whom the sovereign power is
rightfully lodged.

" The services of the national Navy during the war, on account
of their peculiarity, attracted less attention than those of the army,
and were not appreciated by the people. They have an equal claim
to the gratitude of the nation, so freely accorded to the other
branch of the service. The Confederates having no navy, in a
proper sense, and only flotillas here and there, and with some pow-
erful ' rams' on rivers and in harbors, and not a ship on the ocean,
excepting roving pirate vessels, — built, armed, furnished, and
manned chiefly by the British, and cruising alone, — there were few
occasions for purely naval battles. The whole force of the Navy
Department was employed in the services of blockade, in assisting
the attacks of the armies on fortifications along the rivers and on the
borders of the Gulf and the ocean, or in chasing the pirates. In
these fields of great usefulness the national vessels performed labors
of incalculable value, and officers and men exhibited skill, valor,
and fortitude unsurpassed.

"Never in the history of the world were there occasions for
such exhausting labors and highest courage in service afloat as the
American Navy was subjected to in its operations among the rivers
and bayous of the southwestern regions of the Republic. Many a
victory over which the people have shouted themselves hoarse in
giving plaudits to the gallant army might never have been achieved
but for the co-operation of the Navy. To the common observer it,
in many instances, seemed to be only an auxiliary, or wholly a
secondary force, when, in truth, it was an equal, if not the chief,
power in gaining a victory. Without it, what might have been the
result of military operations at Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh
and all along the Mississippi River, especially at Vicksburg, Port
Hudson, and New Orleans ; what at Mobile, Pensacola, Key West,
along the Florida seaboard, the sea-coast islands, Charleston and
the borders of North Carolina, and even in holding Fortress Monroe
and Norfolk ?

"Notwithstanding the weak condition of the naval service, the
decree went forth, in the spring of 1861, that all the ports of the

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 195

States wherein rebellion existed must be closed against commerce
by a strict blockade. Foreign nations protested and menaced, but
the work was done. There were no dock-yards or workmen adequate
to construct the vessels needed for the service, yet such was the
energy of the Department that an unrelaxing blockade was main-
tained for four years, from the Capes of the Chesapeake to the Rio
Grande, while a flotilla of gunboats, protecting and aiding the army
in its movements, penetrated and patrolled our rivers, through an
internal navigation almost continental, from the Potomac to the
Mississippi. Ingenuity and mechanical skill developed amazing in-
ventions. That marine monster, the Monitor, was created and
began a new era in naval warfare ; and the world was suddenly en-
riched by new discoveries in naval service. Vessels of the merchant
service were purchased and converted into strong warriors ; and men
from that service were invited to man them. Schools were estab-
lished for nautical instruction ; dock-yards were enlarged and filled
with workmen ; and very soon a large number of vessels were
afloat, watching the harbors under the ban. No less than two hun-
dred and eight war vessels were constructed, and most of them
fitted out during the four years ; and four hundred and eighteen
vessels were purchased and converted into war ships.

' ' The blockading service was performed with great vigor and
efficiency under the triple stimulus of patriotism, duty, and personal
emolument. The British government professed to be neutral, but
British merchants and adventurers were allowed to send swarms of
swift-winged steamers, laden with arms, ammunition, clothing, and
everything needed by the insurgents, to run the blockade. The
profits of such operations were enormous, but the risks were equally
so ; and it is believed that a true balance-sheet would show no
profits left, in the aggregate, with the foreign violators of the law.
The number of such vessels captured and destroyed during the re-
bellion by the national Navy was fifteen hundred and four. The
gross proceeds of property captured and condemned as lawful prize
before the first of November following the close of the war amounted
to nearly twenty-two millions of dollars, which sum was subse-
quently enlarged by new decisions. The value of the vessels cap-
tured and destroyed (eleven hundred and forty-nine captured and
three hundred and fifty-five destroyed) was not less than seven mil-

196 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

lion of dollars, making a total loss, chiefly to British owners, of at
least thirty million of dollars. ' '

It is not believed that the distinguished historian from whose
work the above is quoted has in the least overstated the value of
the services rendered the nation by the navy daring the Civil War.
As the length of time increases since the conclusion of that struggle,
we are getting to study its events more carefully and to be more
critical in analyzing the exact relationship between causes and
effects. An analysis that was quite impracticable in the years
immediately succeeding the close of the war because at that time
men's minds were filled with the magnitude and brilliancy of the
achievements of an army numerically so enormous as to eclipse en-
tirely the naval force, and in which a personal interest was com-
pelled from the very circumstance of its greatness, which necessit-
ated representation in its ranks of every family within the borders
of the nation. The blockade of the sea coast alone, of the revolted
territory, cannot appear now in any other light than a deciding
factor in the ultimate conquest of the Confederacy. Had the
Southern states been free to ship their cotton to Europe and ex-
change it for provisions and munitions of war, who is wise enough to
say when the end would have come ? Could the invasion of the
South been possible had not the naval force, hovering over the
coasts with ceaseless vigilance for more than three years, practic-
ally disarmed the Confederacy and starved its people into submis-
sion by depriving them of the benefits of commerce ?

In telling the story of the maintenance of the blockade it is
impossible to give too much credit for results to the naval engineers
serving in the blockading squadrons. A great object in view was
to keep the vessels in condition to remain on their stations, for the
removal of even one steamer at a time meant the weakening of the
line, of watchers and might involve a breaking of the blockade, and
this duty to a great extent fell upon the engineers, for without
steam power — always ready — the ships were worthless. In hastily
constructed gunboats, or commercial vessels as hastily equipped for
war purposes, without an adequate supply of engineering stores and
without proper tools or facilities for effecting repairs, the duties of
the engineers were the most difficult and fretting that can be
imagined; notwithstanding which, they, as a rule were found equal

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 197

to the emergencies that confronted them and succeeded in keeping
their ships and the blockade efficient, and this in spite of the fact
that the engineering talent of every sea-port of Great Britain was
arrayed against them in the effort to produce marine machinery
that could over-endure that of the Federal vessels.

The author has been favored w.ith a large number of letters
from men who as regular or volunteer engineers performed their
share in the labor of making a rigorous blockade possible, and from
the recital of trials and hardships thus presented he cannot but mar-
vel at the faithfulness, loyalty, and thoroughness of the services
rendered. The engineers shared with other officers the dangers of
battle, pestilence, and storm, as well as the hardships due to im-
proper food and insufficient clothing, and in addition, they had to
struggle constantly with the discouraging task of keeping old and
worn-out, or new and badly adjusted, machinery in working order;
a task that permitted no rest for either body or mind. A record of
the make-shifts, alterations, inventions and substitutes to which
these devoted men were compelled to resort from sheer lack of
proper mechanical appliances to aid them in their labors, would
prove a most interesting chapter in the history of man's ingenuity,
and would be valuable to the engineers of to-day, even though our
smallest gun- vessels now carry excellently equipped repair shops,
and are supplied with a veritable mine of tools, fittings and spare
parts.

Had the service been less arduous and afforded some oppor-
tunities for rest, the possibility of securing it was often wanting.
Although absolutely essential to the well-being of the ship, in a
degree scarcely approximated by any other class of officers, the en-
gineer was too often precluded by the nebulous nature of his relat-
ive rank from occupying any but the merest leavings of the quarters
in which he was supposed to have a share. One former member
of the corps writes of an instance where an engineer attached to
a small armed steamer was completely left out in the distribution
of living space and for upwards of two years had no home on board
whatever, except a piece of canvas in form of a tent under which
he was allowed to sleep, summer and winter, on top of the deck
house. Numerous other instances have been related to the writer
of engineers unprovided with quarters being obliged to sleep in the

198 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

hot drum-rooms over the boilers, or who constructed for themselves
rough bunks in the engine rooms or shaft alleys. These cases of
individual neglect and hardship fortunately do not stand as repre-
sentative of the experience of all, for in many vessels there was
room even for the engineers, but they serve to show what discour-
agements were encountered by a considerable number of an invalu-
able class of officers who inherited an official position vastly inferior
to the value of their services or their real merits.

Under such circumstances it is remarkable that the engineers
maintained their patriotism and devotion to duty as well as they did,
the records of the war showing, however, that instances of defection
or faint-heartedness among them were rare indeed. Soon after the
war closed, Hear Admiral David D. Porter, writing to Chief En-
gineer W.W. W. Wood, thus referred to his experience with the
naval engineers: " I have had more than two thousand engineers
under my command during the Rebellion and I have never known
them to shrink from any service." There were of course occasional
instances of discouragement after prolonged and arduous duty
where the engineer gave up in despair and declared his inability
to keep his department longer in service, and there were also a very
few cases where the engineer allowed a wearied and disgusted com-
manding officer to influence him into making such a report against
his judgment. In either case the effort to get off the blockade and
enjoy a respite from its toils at some Northern navy yard generally
came to naught.

After the capture of Port Eoyal, early in the war, a naval sup-
ply and repairing station was maintained at that place, and there the
broken-down ships from the blockade were usually sent for examin-
ation before being allowed to proceed North. The mechanical de-
partment of this station was presided over by veteran chief engin-
eers of the old navy, who had long before lost all the nonsense of
youth and were incapable of sympathy for their juniors who had
tales to tell of what they could not do. To their minds, an engineer
in charge of a steamer in the presence of the enemy ought to be able
to do anything, and be resourceful enough to meet any emergency.
If, upon examination, they decided that the reported defects in a
vessel could have been repaired at sea the offending engineer whose
report had taken the vessel off her station received very little

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 199

mercy. A report to the commander-in-chief of the squadron meant
a court-martial, and that in turn meant reduction in grade or sum-
mary dismissal from the service. This may seem harsh and unchar-
itable treatment of those whose duties at best were trying, but indi-
viduals have little right to consideration in great national operations,
and their chief engineers, whose reports would have appeared cruel
and savored of persecution in time of peace, were merely perform-
ing their proper part in the prosecution of the war. The service
rendered by them in this manner, and in directing repairs to dis-
abled ships, was of incalculable benefit to commanders of squadrons
in carrying out the operations entrusted to them, a fact appreciated
and very properly referred to by Rear Admiral Dahlgren, who wrote
to the Department on the occasion of relinquishing command of the
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at the close of the war: " Fleet
Engineer Danby has been for the last two years in charge of the
mechanical steam department at Bay Point, where his industry and
thorough knowledge of his business has alone enabled me to keep in
active operation so many steamers; the first time, perhaps, that this
power has been submitted to such a test. ' '

To those who study the social and industrial conditions existing
within the United States prior to the Civil War, conditions which
contributed fully as much to the causes which made that war pos-
sible, as did the political questions generally supposed to have been
its provocation, the fact that the mechanical element of the North,
represented by the engineers of the navy, had such an important
part in accomplishing the conquest of the Confederacy must appear
as a most appropriate manifestation of retributive justice. An arti-
ficial state of society at the South, founded upon the institution of
human slavery, had inculcated a genuine contempt for labor and
the industrial arts, and resulted in the utter neglect of the vast min-
eral resources of that region, now one of its most important sources
of wealth, simply because no one was so low in the social scale as to
burden his mind with a knowledge of metallurgy, which involved
practical experience. Had the South possessed the educated
scientists, the skilled mechanics, and the innumerable mills and
workshops that a higher order of progress has now given her, there
is no telling when, or how the war might have ended.

As it was, when the war broke out there was but one establish-

200 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ment — the Tredegar Iron Works, of Richmond — within the limits
of the Confederacy capable of making the very modest armor plates
used on the Merrimac and Alb&marle, while the total number of
skilled artisans was probably exceeded by the number employed
in any one of a score or more of Northern workshops busily en-
gaged in making ships, engines and guns for the national navy.
When the first supply of arms and tools had been exhausted, the
South was unable to make others, nor could she receive them from
abroad on account of the vigilance of the blockading ships, kept up
to their work by the skill of the Northern engineers. As tersely
expressed by Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood, in one of his official re-
ports regarding the conduct of the war, "our antagonists had
neither engineering skill nor resources in themselves, nor could
they, owing to the efficiency of our navy, obtain them from others,
and the want was fatal ; they had despised the mechanical arts and
sciences, and by those arts and sciences they fell."

CHIEF ENGINEER SAMUEL ARCHBOLD, U. S. N.

Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy from October 16, 1857, to March 25, 1861.

CHAPTER XIII.

" Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightnings of his terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Julia Wabd Howe — Battle-Hymn of the BepubUc.

1861. The Civil War, continued — Engineers and Steam Vessels in the Navy at the
Outbreak of Hostilities — Resignation and Dismissal of Officers — B. F. Isher-
wood Appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy — Increase of the Engineer
Corps — Qualifications of the Volunteer Engineers — Remarkable Career of Don
Carlos Hasseltino — Vessels Added to the Fleet during the Year — The Keab.
sabge and Canandaigua Class of Steam Sloops — The Ninety Day Gunboats
—The First Double-Enders.

AT the beginning of the eventful year 1861 the engineer corps of
the navy consisted of twenty-eight chief engineers, forty-three
first assistant engineers, twenty-nine Becond assistant engineers, and
ninety-two third assistants, a total of one hundred and ninety-two.
This number was established by adhering as closely as practicable to
the provisions of the act of Congress of 1842, which authorized the
appointment of one chief engineer, two first assistants, two second
assistants, and three third assistants for each steam-vessel of war.
The steam navy at the beginning of 1861 consisted of six great ships,
of which the Niagara and Colorado were types, and which in their
size, battery and beauty were the marvels of the maritime world at
that day; six first-class screw sloops, everyone of which was destned
to become famous in the annals of the navy, and one of which — the
Hartford — was to become a name synonymous with naval glory;
four large side- wheel steamers, one of which was the Powhatan ;
eight second-class steam-sloops, represented in the modern navy by
the Iroquois ; five purchased screw steamers of about five hundred
tons each, and five small side wheel gunboats, the Michigan of this
class being still with us.

Twenty-seven of the members of the engineer corps were Vir-
ginians, and seven others belonged to the Carolinas, Alabama, and
Florida, but the majority came from the New England and Middle
States, Maryland and the District of Columbia beiDg especially well

202 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

represented. The Northwestern States, which now furnish so many
naval engineers through the medium of the Naval Academy, then
had but five representatives — two each from Ohio and Wisconsin
and one from Illinois. Mr. Samuel Archbold was the engineer -in-
chief of the navy at the beginning of the year, but in March he
resigned that position and his commission as a chief engineer in the
navy as well, going out of the service without any suspicion of dis-
loyalty, as his motives for resigning were personal and not con-
nected in any way with the political unrest of the times. He was
succeeded by Mr. Benjamin F. Isherwood, who was selected by the
President and appointed engineer-in- chief on the 26th day of
March, 1861. Mr. Isherwood's name was the fifth in order on the
list of chief engineers at the time, and he was recognized as the
foremost man of his corps in professional ability and zeal, while
his indefatigable energy and intense patriotism brought to the head of
one of the most important executive branches of the Navy Depart-
ment a man well fitted for the Herculean task that the next few
years had in store.

In the spring of this year the political storm that had been
gathering for so many years finally burst, and the officers and men
of the navy were confronted with the desperate issue of choosing
between two flags. Of the engineers from the Southern States five
resigned and had their resignations accepted by the Department, but
by that time resignations of officers of the army and navy had become
epidemic, and President Lincoln directed that all such in the future
be treated as proof of disloyalty sufficient to warrant summary dis-
missal from the service of the United States, which treatment was
administered to seventeen of the naval engineers who sent in their
resignations after it was too late. One of these, William P. William-
son, whose name had stood at the head of the list of chief engineers,
became the engineer-in-chief of the Confederate navy; a few others
continued their profession in the same service, while others went
into the insurgent army, where some achieved considerable military
distinction, and others were killed or crippled fighting against the
flag under which they had acquired their first military ideas, and to
which they would have remained loyal had they been inspired by
that thoughtful good judgment supposed to be an attribute of all en-
gineers by the virtue of philosophic nature of their calling.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 205

In July, 1861, Congress provided for a temporary increase of
the navy ' ' for and during the present insurrection, ' ' which act au-
thorized the Secretary of the Navy to hire, purchase, or contract for
such vessels as might be found necessary, to arm and equip them,
and to appoint acting or volunteer officers for them. Under the
operation of this law the navy grew rapidly both in ships and m per-
sonnel: such vessels as were bought outright or built on the order of the
Navy Department became, of course, government war-vessels, and
as such served to authorize a great increase in the regular engineer
corps, a considerable increase being effected during the first year of
the war, but not at all in proportion to the increase in the number of
war steamers, as the officials of the Navy Department were wise
enough to know that the rebellion would eventually be put down,
and it was only a question of time before the navy would have to be
re-established on a peace basis. Accordingly the majority of the
new engineers held only acting appointments. At the end of the
year 1861 the regular engineer establishment had increased to four
hundred and four, of whom forty-eight were chief engineers; at the
same time there were three hundred and sixty-four acting engineers
distributed through the grades of first, second and third assistants.
The increase in numbers went steadly on until, in January, 1865,
there were four hundred and seventy-four regulars and eighteen
hundred and three volunteers, of which numbers fifty-nine regulars
and fifty- five volunteers were chief engineers.

In spite of all the hurry, excitement, and anxiety incident to the
existence of a state of war, it is greatly to the credit of the officials
at the head of the engineer corps that the careful system of examina-
tions for admission to the regular service was rigidly adhered to
throughout the war, thus preventing the acquisition to the permanent
corps of any who were not professionally and morally fit for the ser-
vice. In the case of acting appointments in the volunteer service
little or no examination was required, the need for engineers being
so great that almost any one who could show a letter of recommenda-
tion from a commander or chief engineer of a war-vessel, or from a
civilian of prominence, could get an acting appointment. The ma-
jority of the acting engineers were men who were really engineers,
many of them being of recognized ability and reputation in their
line, who entered the service from motives of patriotism, and natur-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ally chose the engineering branch of the navy in preference to wad-
ing through the mud, either with or without a sword, in the army.

Numbers of the volunteer engineers were men who belonged to
the profession of civil engineering and were attracted to the en-
gineer corps of . the navy by the similarity of names, when they
made up their minds to enter the military service of the govern,
ment. These gentlemen, with possibly a few exceptions, began
with no practical knowledge of marine machinery, but with their ex-
cellent training in matters relating to civil engineering they were
quick to learn and in a short time became among the best acting
engineers. Several of them entered the regular service by taking
the prescribed examinations and, both during the war and since,
have been professionally prominent in the corps. As was often the
case in, the army, many men of education and ability served in sub-
ordinate positions in the navy solely because they wished to serve
their country in its day of need, and such men were generally ap-
preciated and promoted to official positions after short periods of
faithful service as subordinates. A case in point is that of Mr. P.
J. McMahon, a civil engineer employed on the Boston and Worces-
ter Railway, who was a personal friend of the chief engineer of the
San Jacinto, and was very desirous of going to sea with him as an
acting engineer. The plan was prevented by the San Jacinto hur-
riedly going to sea at a time when her complement was filled, with
the exception of one coal heaver, but Mr. McMahon was determined
to go, and accordingly took the vacant billet. He cheerfully did
duty as a fireman, oiler and yeoman until, in about a year, he re-
ceived the coveted warrant as an acting third assistant engineer;
promotion to second assistant came not long afterward, and the
close of the war found him a first assistant in charge of the machin-
ery of the Mahaska;

Mr. McMahon's predecessor as engineer in charge of the
Mahaska furnishes a curious example of motive, in seeking service
in the volunteer engineer corps. The Atlantic Works of Boston did
a tremendous business from the very beginning of the war in build-
ing ships and machinery for the navy, and when the owners found
themselves getting rich by staying at home they came to the very
proper conclusion that some one having a proprietary interest in the
business must represent the patriotism of the firm by going to the

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 209

war. Accordingly, the proprietors cast lots and Mr. Philander S.
Brown was elected to go to the front. He chose the engineer corps
of the navy for his field of usefulness, asked for, and received a
warrant as acting first assistant engineer, and served as chief
engineer of the Mahaska until the war was over, when he resigned
and returned to his home and business interests.

As might be expected, and as often occcurred in the other
branches of the navy, some acting appointments were given to men
who were unqualified for the duties they were expected to perform
on board a war steamer. Adventurers who saw in the seven hun-
dred and fifty dollars per annum of the "Acting Third" in the navy
more attraction than was offered by thirteen dollars per month and
found in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac ; firemen recom-
mended by their captains for some gallant or meritorious act ; sons
or friends of prominent military and civil officials; subalterns
disgusted with the Chickahominy swamps, and many other classes
too numerous to mention, all had their representatives in the volun-
teer engineer corps. As there were from four to ten engineers on
each war steamer in those days, the presence of one of these inex-
perienced persons was not dangerous, as he was always under the
eye of some one who was able to prevent disaster by interfering in
case of necessity. When a number of them happened to get
shuffled together, as sometimes occurred, and thus obliged to try to do
something without being told how to do it, they generally came to
grief, as is attested by innumerable tales in the service.

One of these stories relates to the wearing away of the valve
faces and seats of the engine of one of the new sloops-of-war on
one of her first sea trips. The acting engineer in charge of the
machinery had been in the regular service and was a competent en-
gineer, but, unfortunately for the vessel, he was confined to his
room by illness on the voyage referred to. Of the four acting as-
sistant engineers, one only had any experience with machinery
and that was limited to fire-room work, he having been a fireman
promoted as a reward for some act of bravery in an emergency ; his
scholastic attainments were extremely limited and stopped short at
the problem of subtracting the hourly records of the engine-room
counter and dividing the remainder by sixty to find the average
revolutions of the engines per minute, a problem that he never

210 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

mastered, and which finally drove him back into the fire-room, where
he found more familiar tools to handle than pencils and paper.
This case had numerous parallels in the line as well as in the en-
gineer corps during the war, and is a good illustration of the folly
of making officers of enlisted men simply as a reward for gallantry
in battle, without any regard for the fitness of the person to perform
the duties of the office to which he is advanced.

Another of the acting engineers was a village schoolmaster
from the up-country of New Hampshire, whose knowledge of
marine engines had been obtained from a picture of a condensing
engine in Olmstead's "Principles of Natural Philosophy," at that.
time a favorite text book in the country schools of New England.
The third one was a youth of about seventeen, who had been the
schoolmaster's favorite pupil in the New Hampshire village, and
who had joined him in the enterprise of suppressing the rebellion
through the medium of the naval engineer corps. The fourth acting
engineer had gained such engineering knowledge as he possessed
by having been the captain of a tug boat. Although well meaning
and inspired with a desire to do their best, these amateur engineers
in some way managed to overlook in turn the necessity of having
the steam chests oiled, and, as a result, the valves and seats at the
end of the trip were found to be reduced to little more than a heap
of iron filings, and the ship was kept from active service many
weeks in consequence while damages were being repaired.

Another incident which occurred about the same time was not
the source of any great amount of delight to the acting engineers
directly concerned. A war steamer left New York for the seat of
war one fine day, the commander and all hands indulging in high
hopes of glory and prize money. After a few hours at sea the
engine suddenly stopped, and then began running backward at a
furious rate; do what they would, the engineers could not coerce
the engine into going ahead again, and finally the captain had to
ignominiously abandon his cruise and take his ship, tail first, back
to New York, an object of surprise and derision to the watermen of
that busy seaport. The navy yard was reached in the course of
time, where a few vigorous remarks from the chief engineer of the
yard and about two minutes work put everything to rights. The
eccentric had slipped.

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 213

The volunteer engineer who was not an engineer did not always
get into trouble, as is shown by the successful experience of one
Don Carlos Hasseltino, whose remarkable naval career is worthy of
a little space in the history of the naval engineering of the rebellion.
This gentleman was a native of the West Indies, but had graduated
at a college in Ohio, and at the time of the outbreak of the war was
reading law in Hamilton, Ohio. His sympathies being with the
South, he went to Montgomery, Alabama, and entered the Confed-
erate army, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in about two
years, when he fell into the hands of the enemy in the vicinity of
.Fort Donelson. Pretending to be a civilian and a foreigner, which
he could easily do by his ability to speak French, he succeeded in
getting a pass from the Union officer in command at Memphis, and
went to St. Louis, not knowing just why he was going there or what
he would do next.

In the streets of St. Louis he chanced to meet a former college
mate who was an assistant engineer on one of the gunboats in the
Mississippi River. This friend urged him to give up the Confeder-
ate cause and enter the navy as an engineer, to which proposal he
demurred, as he said he "did not know a steam engine from a horse
power, " but his friend assured him that did not make any dif-
ference. Accordingly, and knowing that he would probably be
hsnged as a spy if his connection with the South were discovered, he
studied some of the assistant engineer's books for a few weeks and
then presented himself to the authorities as a candidate for the en-
gineer corps. He made such a good impression that he was given
an acting appointment as a first assistant engineer, and was ordered
to duty on board the Essex, then the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral
D. D. Porter.

According to Mr. Hasseltino's account of himself,his great fear
at this time was that the Essex would be ordered to get under way
to go somewhere, and he would consequently be called upon to do
something with the machinery, which he knew he could not do, his
mechanical knowledge being yet so imperfect that he thought the
feed-pump was a contrivance for making the vessel go sidewise.
But luck was on his side, for he had opportunities to talk with Ad-
miral Porter, and so impressed that distinguished officer with his
professional worth that he was put upon the Admiral's staff and as-

214 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

signed to important special duty in connection with the building and
inspection of ironclads at various points on the Mississippi River.
A report made by him to the admiral respecting the value of certain
types of ironclads for river service was considered so meritorious
that the admiral embodied it in his report to the Secretary of the
Navy, and that official in turn transmitted it to Congress in his an-
nual report.

In May, 1864, after less than a year's service, Mr. Hasseltino
was made an acting chief engineer, in which capacity he continued
on duty with the Mississippi flotilla; two years later, in May, 1866,
he was honorably mustered out of the service. Subsequently he
acquired the title of general and considerable wealth by engaging
in various wars in Chile, Peru, and Cuba, but with this we need not
deal here. Acting Assistant Surgeon J. M. Batten has written an
interesting little volume of reminiscences of his service in the navy
during the war, in which book occurs the following account of the
person whose versatile career has just been described:

" Don Carlos Hasseltino was chief engineer of the United
States monitor Catawba, but spent most of his time ou board the
United States monitor Oneota,and was one of the messmates of that
vessel. I associated with him constantly from October 6, 1865, to
January 16, 1866. He was a jolly, kind, sympathetic and intelli-
gent associate. In height he was about six feet, and had a large,
wiry frame. His hair and eyes were black; he wore a black mus-
tache. He never gave offense to any one, but would not suffer
himself to be insulted. He carried two Derringers in leather
pockets buttoned to his pantaloons above the hips. He was very
polite and chivalrous; woe to the person that gave offense or offered
insult."

The progress made in increasing the fleet during the year 1861
was phenomenal. Mr. George D. Morgan of New York was ap-
pointed a special agent of the Navy Department with orders to buy
every American merchant vessel found at all suitable for war purpo-
ses, in the selection of which he was aided by a board of officers of
the navy — a constructor, a chief engineer, and an ordnance officer.
This board had a small steamer in New York harbor and made a
business of boarding and examining every American vessel within

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 217

reach, a favorable report on any vessel making it obligatory on Mr.
Morgan's part to, buy the vessel at the best bargain he could make
with the owners. As Mr. Morgan received a commission of two and
one-half per cent, on his purchases this obligation to buy, was for
him, a decidedly good thing. From the middle of July until the first
of December there were purchased in this manner thirty-six side-
wheel steamers aggregating 26,680 tons and costing $2,418,103;
forty-three screw steamers aggregating 20,403 tons and costing $2,-
215,037, and one hundred and eighteen sailing vessels — ships, barks
and schooners — at a cost of $1,071,898. Sixty of these latter were
loaded with stone and sunk for the purpose of closing some of the
southern ports; the others, and all of the steamers, were converted
into war vessels and put into active service.

At the same time that merchant vessels were being pressed into
service, the navy yards and private ship and engine building estab-
lishments were worked to their utmost capacity in building war ves-
sels. By the end of the year, fifty-two such vessels were entirely
completed and in service or were well along in construction. None
of the navy yards were then equipped for the building of engines on
a large scale, which work therefore had to be let out by contract to
marine engine builders, the machinery specifications in the majority
of cases being furnished by the Navy Department from designs of
Engineer-in-Ohief Isherwood. Excellent plants for building wooden
ships existed at the navy yards and many of the hulls of these rapid-
ly constructed vessels were built by the Government at the different
yards while their machinery was under construction at neighboring
machine shops.

The ship and engine building work of the Navy Department
now assumes such magnitude that space forbids the practice previously
observed in these pages of giving detailed information as to the de-
signers and builders of the various vessels, their machinery, arma-
ment, cost, and subsequent naval careers, although it is hoped that
the value of this work will be enhanced by its appendix, in which
much of the information referred to is given in tabular form. Hence-
forth it will be necessary to refer to new vessels in general terms
only, except in certain special cases where peculiarities of design or
remarkable engine performance occasion so much interest from an
engineering point of view that a more detailed history of their origin
is desirable.

218 THE STEAM NATY OF THE UNITED STATES.

In February, 1861, Congress authorized the construction of
seven sloops-of-war, and the Navy Department, to take advantage
of the plans already in its possession of the sloops built in 1858,
duplicated the Iroquois in the Oneida, the Wyoming in the Tusca-
rora, the Mohiccm in the LCearsarge, and the engines of the Seminole
in the Wachusett. These vessels were of about 1,560 tons displace-
ment. By subsequent action of Congress, at the special session,
authority was granted to build other sloops of war, similar to those
previously ordered, making fourteen in all, and work on them was
begun in the early fall of the year. These sloops-of-war, besides
those already named, were the Juniata, Ossipee, Adirondack, Sous-
atonic, Sacramento, Canandaigua, Lackawanna, Ticonderoga, Shen-
andoah, and Monon.gafi.ela. The first four named were of 1,934
tons displacement, and the other six, differing somewhat in size
from each other, were of about 2,200 tons. The hulis of all four-
teen were built by the Government at the navy yards, three each at
Portsmouth, N. H., and Boston, and four each at New York and
Philadelphia, the machinery being built by contract at various
places in New England, New York and Philadelphia.

These fourteen steam sloops were large, handsome vessels and
did much excellent service during the war and afterward. The only
one still remaining in the service is the Monongahela, which, with
her machinery removed, is used as a training ship in which naval
cadets and apprentice boys acquire those arboreal habits supposed to
be essential in the training of modern men-of-war's men. With the
disappearance of this class of vessels we have suffered what the
author regards as a most serious loss in the removal from the navy
list of those sonorous and distinctively American names, like Can-
andaigua, Oneida, Lackawanna, Tuscarora, Shenandoah, and the
like, which were sufficient in themselves to proclaim the nationality
of the vessel bearing them, and at the same time precluded by their
derivation from adoption by foreign navies, except inappropriately.
Oui- Ajax, Dolphin, Petrel, Vesuvius, and others, always have their
namesakes in other navies, and imply a poverty of resource on our
part wholly undeserved in view of the great multitude of beautiful
and euphonious words that have become part of our American lan-
guage in the names the vanished tribes of aborigines gave to their
hills and forests, rivers and lakes.

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 221

Before work on the fourteen sloops heretofore named had been
undertaken, the Navy Department, acting on its own responsibility
in the emergency, without waiting for the sanction of Congress,
issued proposals and entered into contracts with different builders
for the construction of twenty-three small, heavily-armed screw gun-
boats, of about 500 tons burden, which, from the rapidity of their
construction came to be known in the service as ' ' ninety-day gun-
boats. ' ' The contracts were nearly all made during the first two
weeks in July, and work was pushed to such an extent that four of
them were in the battle of Port Royal on the seventh of November,
and seventeen of them were in active service before the end of the
year. Their names were: Huron, Sagamore, Itasca, Sciota, Ken-
nebec, Kvneo, Aroostook, Chippewa, Cayuga. Chocura, Kanawha,
Katahdin, Marblehead, Ottawa, Owasco, Pembina, Penobscot, Pin-
ola, Seneca, Tahoma, Unadilla, Wissahiclcon, and Winona.

The machinery of the first four named was constructed by the
Novelty Iron Works, New York, which establishment duplicated in
them the machinery it had previously put into two gunboats
built for the Russian government. The machinery for the other
nineteen was built by various contractors from designs and specifi-
cations furnished by Engineer-in- Chief Isherwood, and was some-
what similar to that of the first four, but with about sixty per cent,
more boiler power. The hulls of all these gunboats were built by
contract.

For service in shallow and narrow rivers a new and peculiar
type of gunboat was developed in the " double-enders, " twelve of
which were begun during the summer and fall of 1861. These were
pointed at both ends and had a rudder at each end, being thus
freed from the necessity of turning around by being able to steam
at equal advantage in either direction. Paddle wheels had become
practically obsolete for war vessels, but the imperative demand for
very light draft in these gunboats made it necessary to adopt side
wheels for their propulsion. They were the Maratanza, Mahaska,
Sebago, Octorora, Sonoma, Conemaugh, Tioga, Genessee, Miami,
Paul Jones, Port Royal, and Cimmerone. They were of 850 tons
burden. The engines were built by contract from Mr. Isherwood 's
plans, and were of the direct-acting inclined type. All had Bartol's
vertical water tube boilers, except the Paul Jones, which had Mar-

BARTOI.'S VKKTUM. WATKR-TII1K lit .| I l.l;. I'SKll IN l»n l;il. IMWi- OF THE "<XTORORa" CLASS.

TELE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 229

tin's boilers. All had blowers for forcing the draft. The hulls of
the last three-named were built by contract, and the other nine in
the navy yards.

Besides the forty-nine steamers already referred to, three iron-
clad war vessels were undertaken during this same busy year.
These, being a new departure in naval construction and marking a
development in that direction exactly in line with the naval engin-
eer's profession, will be described in a separate chapter. To quote
from the report of the Secretary of the Navy regarding the war- ship
building of the year, "No sailing vessels ha^e been ordered to be
built, for steam as well as heavy ordnance, has become an indispens-
able element of the most efficient naval power."

CHAPTER XIV.

" I have seen him in the watch-ares of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps ;
I have read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps ;

His day is marching on."
Julia Wakd Howe — Battle-Hymn of the Republic.

1861. The Civil War, Continued— The Norfolk Navy Yard— Attempt to Save the
Frigate Merbimac— Endeavors of Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood— Destruction
of the Yard — Attack on Hatteras Inlet — Destruction of the Privateer Judah
at Fensacola.

WITH the exception of two events in the career of the frigate
Chesapeake early in the present century, there are few inci-
dents in our naval history more humiliating than the loss of several
of our national vessels at the Norfolk navy yard at the beginning
of the rebellion. So utterly lacking is this affair in redeeming fea-
tures that it would be gladly passed over without comment were it
not for the fact that the principal efforts to save the nation's honor
and property on that occasion were the outcome of the zeal and pa-
triotism of two naval engineers, and for that reason the story must
be told as a necessary part of this history.

The navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia, at the beginning of 1861
was the largest and most important of the government navy yards.
It was one of the oldest in date of establishment and the most com-
pletely equipped with wharves, docks, ship-houses, workshops, and
store-houses. Great quantities of naval material and stores had been
assembled there prior to the outbreak of 'the rebellion, among other
war material there being about twelve hundred cannon of various
types, mostly serviceable, although some of the guns were of very
ancient patterns; fifty-two. according to the inventory made by the
Confederates immediately after they took possession of the yard,
were new nine-inch Dahlgren guns, at that time formidable pieces
of ordnance.

At the beginning of April, 1861, the following named vessels
were lying at the Norfolk Yard: the new steam frigate Merrimac, of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 'JSi

forty guns; the sloops-of-war Oermantown and Plymouth, oi twenty -
two guns each; the brig Dolphin, of four guns; the old ships-of-the.
line Pennsylvania, Delaware and Cohi/mbus; the frigates United States,
Raritan and Columbia; and the sloop-of-war Cumberland. An un-
finished ship-of-the-line named the New York was on the stocks in
one of the ship houses. The Merrimac was one of those large and
beautiful steam frigates of which the Navy was then so justly proud.
She had made one cruise, as flagship of the Pacific Station, and had
been laid up in the Norfolk yard for an extensive overhauling of her
machinery. The sloops Germantown and Plymouth were completely
equipped for sea, but had no crews on board, and the Dolphin could
have been made ready for sea in a few hours. The frigate United
States was the same vessel, rebuilt, that had defeated and captured
the British frigate Macedonian in 1812. The Pennsylvania was in
commission as the receiving ship and was famous as being the largest
ship-of-the-line ever built for our navy, mounting one hundred and
twenty guns and being rated as of 3,241 tons, old measurement, which
is little more than one-half the present rating by tons displacement.
The other large battle ships of that time — the North Carolina, Ver-
mont and others — carried eighty-four guns and were of about 2,600
tons. The Cumberland was the flagship of the home squadron and
had just arrived at the yard after the usual winter cruise in Southern
waters. She was saved from the destruction that followed, but less
than a year later was destroyed by the Merrimac, which vessel by
all rights should have been the one to have towed her and the other
sailing vessels to a place of safety.

The navy yard was commanded by Captain Charles S. McCau-
ley, a native of Pennsylvania, who, according to the custom then
prevailing, was addressed as Commodore. The twelve other line
officers associated with him were natives of southern states, seven of
them being Virginians; three of the four medical officers were Vir-
ginians, and a majority of the other staff and warrant officers was
likewise of southern nativity. These officers had been assigned to
this station by the previous administration and the fact that the pre-
ponderance of southerners among them was so great makes it reas-
onably certain that there was more method than chance in their
selection. The Chief Engineer of the yard, Mr. Robert Danby, was a
native of Delaware and could be depended upon to stand by his

232 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

colors, for the inhabitants of that little State have been distinguished
for loyalty and patriotism ever since the ' 'Blue Hen's Chickens, ' '
as the Delaware Regiment was called, made such an enviable record
in the Continental Army.

One of the first acts of the new engineer-in-chief was to call
the attention of the Secretary of the Navy to the possibility of get-
ting the Merrimac away from Norfolk, and it is certain that had it
not been for him no effort to that end would have been made. The
Secretary's mind was engrossed with too many other important
matters to give any thought to this particular subject unless it had
been urged upon him and, indeed, it is more than probable, as he
had been in office less than one month, and that month a most harras-
sing one, that he did not even know that the Merrimac was at Nor-
folk. Mr. Isherwood was familiar with the Norfolk yard and as
the work on the Merrvmac's machinery was an important detail of
his office, the subject of saving the ship naturally suggested itself
to his mind. By corresponding with chief engineer Danby, Mr.
Isherwood had learned of the exact state of affairs, including the
information that the Confederates counted surely on having the
Merrimac as a nucleus for their future navy, which intention Mr.
Isherwood determined to defeat if possible. With this knowledge
he repeatedly urged Secretary Welles to order the removal of the
ship and finally, on the 11th of April, orders were issued looking
towards removing the Merrvmac to Philadelphia, but about this
time discouraging news came from Norfolk in the form of an
official report saying that it would take a month to get her machin-
ery in condition to move. This estimate of time was so different
from the private information received from the chief of the yard
that misrepresentation was evident and Mr. Isherwood at his own
urgent request was ordered to go to Norfolk in person, take full
charge of the Merrimac, and get her ready as soon as possible. He
carried a peremptory order to Commodore McCauley to place the
ship entirely in his hands, which order contained among other
directions these words:

' ' The Department desires to have the Merrimac removed from
the Norfolk to the Philadelphia Navy Yard with the utmost des-
patch. The Engineer-in-Chief, Mr. B. F. Isherwood, has been
ordered to report to you for the purpose of expediting the duty,

CHIEF ENGINEER BOBEBT DANBT, TJ. S. NAVY.

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES.

and yon will have his suggestions for that end promptly carried
into effect. ' '

Mr. Isherwood arrived at the yard on Sunday morning, April
14th, and immediately, in company with Mr. Danby, made a most
thorough examination of the Merimac's condition; the machinery
was completely dismembered and many parts of it scattered about
the shops, but nothing of importance was in such bad condition as
to forbid its temporary use. The Navy yard employes had prev-
iously abandoned their places, but as many of the machinists and other
mechanics were known to Mr. Isherwood and as Mr. Danby had been
popular with them, those two officers succeeded that Sunday afternoon
and evening in inducing a considerable number of them to resume
work for a time. The force thus obtained began work Monday
morning and worked night and day, being divided into three eight-
hour gangs. Messrs. Isherwood and Danby relieving each other
every twelve hours and exercising the most minute supervision over
every detail, for they did not wish any mistakes to be made. On
Wednesday afternoon Mr. Isherwood had the satisfaction of report-
ing to the Commandant that he was ready to get up steam. Com-
modore McCauley was seemingly startled by the suddenness of the
preparation, after he had reported that a month's time would be
necessary for the work that now appeared to have been done in
three days, and when asked for authority to start fires hesitated and
finally said, that the next morning would be soon enough, which
order the engineers took the utmost advantage of by lighting the
fires the very moment that midnight had passed. The follow-
ing, from Boynton's history of the navy, gives an account of
what followed with as much detail as is presented in any of the
various historical accounts of this affair:

"About 9 o'clock on Thursday morning the report was made
to Commodore McCauley that the vessel was ready to proceed,
when he replied that he had not yet decided to send the steamer
out. It was in vain that he was reminded of the peremptory nature
of the order which Mr. Isherwood brought from the Secretary of
the Navy, -to get the Frigate out at the earliest possible moment and
send her to Philadelphia; he only replied that in the course of the
day he would let his decision be known. He seemed to fear that

236 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

obstructions had been placed in the channel. He was told by those
who were well informed thatlhe obstructions already there would
be easily passed by the Merrimao, but that every night's delay
would increase the danger. All this produced no effect. Early in
the afternoon Mr. Isherwood again called upon Commodore Mc-
Cauley, who then said that he had decided to retain the frigate, and
ordered the fires to be drawn. He was again reminded of the per-
emptory nature of the orders from the Navy Department, but it
seemed to produce no impression; he had determined to retain her,
and thus the noble frigate was lost."

The writer has been at great pains to get at the real truth of
this event and with that object in view has made a careful study of
the various official reports and documents relating to the case, as
well as making use of numerous histories which treat of naval
operations during the Civil War. More recently he has been
favored with a thorough and most carefully written account of the
affair from the pen of the chief actor — Chief Engineer Isherwood —
which throws light upon some of the dark places found in the usual
accounts, and which will be made use of as this narrative progresses.
The principal officers concerned in the event were called upon to
testify before the Senate Committee which investigated the Conduct
of the War, and, while they told the truth so far as they went, they
told no more than was necessary, for at that time it would not have
been either patriotic or politic, to have made some of the details
public; and this restriction applies to a considerable extent even
yet.

Commodore McCauley's conduct appears highly inconsistent
with the theory that he was loyal to the Government and anxious to
defend his country's honor, notwithstanding which all the evidence
shows that he was both loyal and patriotic. At the time of this
trouble he had been fifty-two years in the Navy, having lived all
through that long and uneventful period following the war of 1812,
which may well be called the Dark Age of our naval history, during
which midshipmen grew to middle age before becoming lieutenants,
and then remained in that grade until old age was actually upon
them, before they rose to a position of individual responsibility.
He was surrounded by younger officers who, as we have already

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 237

Been, were southerners and who systematically deceived him by
false rumors and imaginary difficulties, but, upon whom the
Commodore depended entirely, never doubting their loyalty to him,
until they actually deserted their posts of duty.

In addition to the perplexities of the actual situation at the
navy yard, the Commodore was hampered with political instructions
from Washington which simply added to his bewilderment. There
was a false hope that Virginia would not secede, and President Lin-
coln was led to believe by arguments and influences that probably
no one but himself ever knew, that an attitude of confidence and
trust towards Virginia, on the part of the Federal Government would
so concilitate the people that they would remain true to the Union.
This in spite of the fact that Norfolk was full of armed men openly
avowing their intention to seize upon the Navy yard, and that the
Virginia authorities had begun obstructing the channels and placing
guns to oppose the egress of any of the national vessels. So com-
modore McCauley was repeatedly cautioned not to do anything that
might appear hostile, or provoking to the Virginians, and at the
same time he was ordered to save the public property under his com-
mand by any means in his power.

All these contradictions and perplexities were too much for the
Commodore to unravel, having spent the greater part of his life in a
sphere where he only did what some one else told him to do, it is no
wonder therefore, that the poor old man was unable to rise to the oc-
casion. To his mind, long before narrowed to follow the one straight
line of naval customs and precedents, ithe situation was most irregu-
lar and wholly inexplicable. His common sense told him that the
information that his subordinates gave him could not be true, and
yet he accepted it as truth because he himself had always been true
to his superiors, and naval laws explicitly required such loyalty.
Never before had he heard people talk of taking posession of a navy
yard, a place sacred by every tradition of the service to the imperi-
al sway of the commandant; never before had navy yard workmen
been known to leave their employment and refuse to return except
as hostiles; never before had the majesty of a navy yard been
outraged by officers walking out of the gates without leave, and with-
out written orders properly endorsed by the commandant as re-
quired by regulation. And then, as if to prove that all signs

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

id, the infallible regulations themselves contained not a
instruction as to what to do in case of insurrection and

3d seizure of a navy yard. The fault was not with Com-

McCauley, but with the system that had trained him.
Isherwood thus graphically describes the pitiful situation

iommodore at this trying time:

tie Commodore was in a state of complete prostration. He
i office immovable, not knowing what to do. He was weak,
g, hesitating, and overwhelmed by the responsibilities of
on. He listened blandly, or seemed to listen, to what was
im, but could not be made to give any order or take any
I kept reporting to him what I was doing and what I in-
> do. He looked vaguely at me, nodded his head, but said

He behaved as though he were stupefied. He was a
i man, personally brave and loyal, perplexed in the ex-
jserted by his officers, and utterly unequal to the occasion,
ordinate he would have done well; as a principal he was a

failure. I endeavored to advise him, to explain the
the Department, and to make him understand the necess-
itting the Merrimac out at once, and I told him we could
t the same time several other vessels. I knew the Navy
ild be in our possession but a few days longer, and wanted
ill the public property I could, as well as to diminish the
the enemy by preventing it from falling into their hands,
in vain. I could not get him to do anything. He never
r the vessel."

r getting np steam Thursday morning Mr. Isherwood kept
es running at the dock all day as a visible sign that the
?as ready to go; he had got enough coal and stores on

his own exertions (for no official of the Yard except Mr.
ded him by word or deed during all this time) to take the
Ear as Newport News where she would be safe. Knowing
mander Alden, who had been ordered to take command of

after her machinery had been put in working order, was
jrith every obstacle that red-tapeism could suggest to pre-
getting men, Mr. Isherwood had inquired among his
i and found some who had been to sea, and these he de-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 238

tailed as wheelmen to steer the vessel. By lavish promises of pay
he secured a sufficient number of the others to act as firemen,
oilers, etc. and these men faithfully agreed to work the ship as far
as Newport News, which promise they undoubtedly would have
kept, as they needed the large sums offered them, and they were
under many obligations to Chief Engineer Danby for liberal treat-
ment when employed under him in the yard. Mr. Isherwood also
on his own authority had the chain cables that secured the ship to
the dock removed and replaced with rope hawsers and he had provided
axes and stationed men with them to cut the hawsers when the
word to go was given. Many other details of preparation were
attended to by him and throughout the day the vessel was entirely
ready to go out, which she could easily have done without a pilot
as she was so light without coal, guns, or stores that she would
easily have passed over the obstructions already in the channel.
But the commandant would not say the word which would have
authorized them to start.

It is pertinent to say just here, that the orders to Mr. Isherwood
gave him full and absolute authority over the ship until the engines
were in condition to drive her; then Commander Alden was by his
orders to assume command and take the ship to sea. Had this au-
thority been vested in Mr. Isherwood the Merrimac would have
been saved and the carnage that Hampton Boads saw the following
March would never have been heard of. As it was, Mr. Isherwood
had to resist a very strong temptation to take charge of tbe ship him-
self, but he had been in the service too many years not to understand
the full significance of the laws and regulations that declared staff
officers not eligible to exercise command, and he felt that no meritor-
ious result of such an assumption on his part, even if it were the
saving of one of the finest ships in the Navy, would serve to excu-
se his encroachment upon the prerogatives held as beloDging only
to another class of officers. Mr. Isherwood himself writes as fol-
lows relative to this perplexing crisis:

" As I witnessed the gradual dying out of the revolutions of
the Merrimac's engines at the dock I was greatly tempted to cut the
ropes that held her, and to bring her out on my own responsibility.
This would have been my destruction, for then, the disasters which

240 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE OTITED STATES.

followed her detention, and which are my justification for
to take the matter into my own hands, would not have h;

The last act in this miserable affair, when the co
finally refused to allow the ship to leave and directed her
hauled, is told by Chief Engineer Isherwood in a let
writer, as follows:

"Although I could not get the Commodore to tal
cisive action I kept the engines working at the dock all da
that he might be persuaded to carry out the plain intenti
Department. Late in the afternoon, at our last intervie
me to draw the fires and stop the engines as he had deci
tain the vessel and meant to defend the yard. I looked ai
amazement, went over the case again, urged the order
desire of the Department, told him the inevitable conse<
his decision, tried to show him the utter absurdity of atte
defend an unfortified navy yard without men or any milit
at command, for by this time he was absolutely alone. I
brave, had a high sense of honor and duty and consic
self bound to struggle to the last. If he had had the sma
on which he could have depended he would have died gall
I believe gladly, at its head, sword in hand against any o
' ' Finding that I could not move him and that he wa
impatient at my reiterated appeals I drew from my p
order of the Department to me, wrote upon it the usua
ment that having completed the duty assigned me to
Washington, and laid it before him. He understood tl
cance of the act, but signed the indorsement without a wo
• great sorrow and chagrin I dismissed my men, waited un
gines made their last revolution, when I left the navy
have never seen it since."

On Wednesday, the 17th of April, the State Con-
Virginia had passed the Ordinance of Secession, so the
excuse whatever on Thursday, for maintaining a pacific i
the yard for fear of provoking the disloyal sentiment a
inhabitants into open rebellion; the rebellion was already

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 241

and the time for temporizing had passed. Why the Merrimac, with
her engines working and a sufficient number of men on board to
handle her, did not that day tow out to safety the other vessels is
one of those speculative questions that cannot be satisfactorily
answered. Like many other controversies over sins of omission in
the past, this question is important chiefly on account of the disas-
ters that followed in the footsteps of the first error, the knowledge
of which was of course hidden at the time that its possession would
haye incited action on the part of those whose failure it is now easy
to criticise.

Mr. Isherwood's work on the Merrimac was known to all in
Norfolk, and naturally, was greatly resented by the populace, as it
was a menace to the prospects of possessing the ship. In fact, only
a week before, the Merrimac had been moved under the shears of
the ordnance wharf to have her guns placed on board, and this act had
raised such a howl of protest that the commandant had stopped the
work and moved her back, so we can readily understand the feeling
when it was known that her machinery was being fitted for use. A
plot to capture Mr. Isherwood and hold him as a prisoner of war
was hatched, and it was only by chance that he escaped falling into
the hands of his country's enemies. Fortunately for him, a civilian
in the town, who knew of the plot was his warm personal friend
and this gentleman warned him of his danger. The friend engaged
a room on the Baltimore steamer in the morning, in his own name,
and took possession of it with Mr. Isherwood's trunk, going later with
a closed carriage to the hotel and conveying the unwelcome guest to
the steamer, where he remained locked in the room until the boat
was well out in Chesapeake Bay. A party of Confederates waited
for hours on the wharf for him to arrive, and only knew by going
to the hotel after the steamer had left, that tneir enemy had out-
witted them and escaped. After his return to the Department Mr.
Isherwood made a short written report of his connection with the
Merrimac, and the Secretary and himself never exchanged a word
about it. It was tacitly understood that the subject was to be
ignored, as one not politic for the public to know in the existing
• state of high feeling and excitement, and it was ignored.

Following closely upon the events before narrated, came the
order to abandon the navy yard. Captain Hiram Paulding, in the

242 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

steam sloop-of-war, Pawnee with one hundred marines i
regiment of Massachusetts volunteers went up to the yard
20 and found the Germantown, Plymouth, and Dolphw
and rapidly sinking, which prevented him from carrying
tention to use those vessels to defend the channel. Feelii
yard was hopelessly lost, and not wishing to let anything
fall into the hands of the enemy, he ordered the destructi
of everything inflammable, and the work-shops, ship-hou
of the ships, and numerous other buildings went up in s
night. The guns were spiked and many of them pe
ruined by knocking off the trunnions, but all efforts in thif
failed with the Dahlgren guns and they afterward became
weapons in the hands of the enemy. The wild scene of d
was of unearthly awfulness and sublimity utterly ind€
The upper works of the Merrimac were burned away, bui
merged portion of the hull remained intact and was sul
used with terrible effect.

As the morning of Sunday, the 21st, approached, tb
took the Cumberland in tow and departed, leaving behin<
tage of the soverignty of the United States. The Coi
rushed in as the Union forces left, extinguished the train
to blow up the granite dry dock, saved the officers' hi
some other buildings, and thus provided themselves with tl
for a great naval station. Thus was public property to th
ten millions of dollars destroyed or lost to the Governmt
of the vessels which escaped destruction that dreadful nig]
historical old frigate United States, but her respite was 1
in May of the following year, when the Confederates in tu
abandon Norfolk, she, too, notwithstanding the glorious
that clustered about her, was burned to ashes.

In the latter part of August, 1861, an expedition pi
the Navy Department, and commanded by Flag Officer S
proceeded from Hampton Roads to attack Hatteras In!
place had been fortified and armed with guns taken from
folk navy yard. Two transport steamers, carrying about
dred troops under the command of Major General Bei
Butler, accompanied this expedition as a part of the con
tacking force. The naval vessels composing the squadror

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 243

steamers Minnesota, Wabash, Susquehanna, Monticello, Pawnee,
and Harriet Lane, and the sailing frigate Cumberland. About
thirty engineers of the navy were attached to these vessels and in
their appointed stations performed their duties thoroughly and -well,
keeping the motive power of their vessels in a constant condition
of readiness and efficiency to meet any demand that the exigencies
of the expedition might require.

The squadron arrived off Hatteras on August 28, and imme-
diately landed the soldiers and marines to attack the fortifications
from the land, in conjunction with the bombardment from the ships
which was maintained all the afternoon and resumed the morning of
the 29th, ceasing only with the surrender of the enemy about 11
a. m. that day. The most exciting event connected with this affair
was a bad quarter of an hour experienced by the Monticello, during
which she narrowly escaped destruction. This small steamer, after
assisting in landing the marines and soldiers, was supplied with a
local coast pilot by the flag-ship and ordered to go in through the
inlet to see what was going on inside. The pilot, either by design
or through ignorance, took her into the wrong channel and she
began to strike bottom when in dangerous proximity to the forts,
the shoalness of the water finally obliging her to abandon her under-
taking and to try to work out to sea again. Seeing the Monticello.
in this distress the large fort of fifteen guns, which had not
molested her up to that time, opened on her with a furious cannon-
ade, which was returned with the fire of such guns as could be
brought to bear. By working the engines rapidly back and forth,
to take advantage of the swell and eddying currents, the ship was
finally turned around and worked out of her dangerous predicament,
not, however, until she had suffered seriously from the merciless
storm of shot and shell poured upon her. Her escape from destruc-
tion was due in large measure to the skill and ability of the engineers
under whose alert charge the machinery responded instantly to every
movement required. Commander John P. Gillis, who commanded
the Monticello at the time, in reporting this experience expressed
his indebtedness to the acting chief engineer of the ship — Mr.
George M. Waite — "for his care and promptness in the manage-
ment of the engine." The assistant engineers of the Monticello at
this time were Messrs. Jonathan Thomas and Columbus L. Griffin.

2^4 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

On the night of September 13, the U. S. S. Color*
off Fort Pickens, Florida, sent out an expedition in f
against the navy yard at Pensacola then in possession of
federates, the objects of the expedition being the destruct
schooner Judah fitting out at one of the docks for a priv
the spiking of a gun in battery at the southeast end of
The party consisted of exactly one hundred officers, s«
marines, the officers being Lieutenants Russell, Sproston, i
Captain Reynolds of the marine corps; Assistant Surgeon
Assistant Engineer George H. White, Gunner Boreton
shipmen Steece, Forrest and Rigginson.

The attack was made on the morning of the 14th at
three o'clock. Instead of surprising the enemy, the cr
Judah was found awake and ready to receive the expedit
great damage with musketry fire as the boats approachec
giving up their vessel until after a most desperate hai
combat on the deck. The schooner being captured and e
and the gun spiked, the naval expedition withdrew, f<
time the yard was as busy as a hornet's nest and fully one
Confederates were swarming for an attack. The Union
three men killed and twelve wounded, among the latter t
tain Reynolds of the marines and Midshipman F. J. JE
who had the end of his thumb shot off.

Assistant Engineer White's part in the exploits of
is indicated by the following extracts from the official rep
affair:

"In the meantime the vessel was set on fire in sevei
That which finally consumed her was lighted in the cabin
ant Engineer White and a coal-heaver Patrick Driscoll
as a volunteer."

"Assistant Engineer White brought down from the c
of the schooner a man who had been seen to fire upon
killing him instantly."

CHAPTER XV.

"I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel ;
'As ye deal with my contemners so with you my grace shall deal';
Let the Hero, born of woman , crush the serpent with his heel ;
Since God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe — Battle Hymn of the Republic-

1861. The Civil War, Continued. — Expedition of Flag Officer Du Pont to Port Royal.
— Loss of the Governor. — Naval Battle at Port Royal. — Killing of Assistant
Engineer Whittemore on the Mohican. — The Affair of the Trent.

IN dividing the coast for convenience in maintaining the blockade
proclaimed along the entire sea line of the insurgent states the
limits of the South Atlantic blockading squadron were fixed at the
boundary line between the Carolinas on the north and Cape Florida
on the south. This region being far from aDy of the Union ports it
became necessary to establish somewhere within its limits a harbor
of refuge in heavy weather where a repair station and depot could
be maintained. In order to seize such a place and hold it with a
strong garrison a large combined army and naval expedition, com-
manded by Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont and Brigadier General
T. W. Sherman (not Wm. T. Sherman), was fitted out and sailed
from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October. The frigate Wabash,
Commander C. R. P. Rodgers, was the flagship, and the fleet,
numbering forty-eight vessels including the troop ships, was the
largest ever before assembled under our flag. A fleet of twenty-
five schooners laden with coal was despatched the previous day
under convoy of the sailing sloop of war Vandalia with orders to
rendezvous at sea off Savannah.

On November 1st the fleet was scattered by a furious gale from
the southeast, approaching a hurricane in violence, and some of the
vessels fared very badly, especially the transports which had been
hurriedly purchased or chartered and in some cases were actually
unseaworthy. The steamer Governor, in which was embarked the
fine battalion of marines, foundered, and the marines with seven
exceptions were rescued by the frigate Sabme and the steamer

246 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Isaac Smith, the latter vessel having been obliged to thi
board her battery to save herself. The transport Peerless
down and her people were taken off in boats under the na
oris circumstances by the crew of the Mohican.

The selection of the point to be captured was left ei
the judgment of Flag Officer DuFont, who decided that Po
South Carolina, was the best located and most suitable for
for the blockading squadron. Accordingly as the vessels
reassemble after the gale, the Wabash led them to the v
that place and anchored off the bar during the day of Novi
All buoys and other aids to navigation had been remov<
enemy, which made it necessary to find, sound, and 1
channel before any of the vessels could venture further,
being several miles off shore. This work was done u
direction of Mr. Boutelle the Assistant Chief of the Coast Sui
was very familiar with the coast in this region and who was f o
with the expedition in charge of a small steamer named th
Late in the afternoon the transports drawing less than eigh
of water and all the gun-vessels were sent to the anchorage
Royal roadstead, the gunboats having a brush with two
Confederate steamers under command of Commodore Ta
"blood is thicker than water" fame, and drove them u
shelter of the batteries on Bay Foint and Hilton Hea
Beauregard and Walker).

The next morning, November 5, the grave responsi
hazarding the noble frigate Wabash in crossing the bar was
by DuPont and that vessel, thanks to the careful wort
Boutelle, was safely taken inside, followed by the side-wl
ate /Stisquehanna and the deep-draught transports. Ir
preparation for action was made but various delays, ami
the grounding of the Wabash after getting into the roads
curred and night came on before the fleet was ready, while
westerly gale the following day again postponed the assaul

On the morning of November 7 the fleet got under
attack the forts, the order of battle comprising a main
ranged in line ahead, and a flanking squadron to engage the
vessels and prevent them from cutting off any of the vei
might be disabled and fall out of action. The main squa

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. Ml

made up of the Wabash, Susquehanna, Mohican, Seminole, Pawnee,
Unadilla, Ottawa, Pembina, and the sailing-sloop Yandalia towed
by the Isaac Smith; the flanking squadron was composed of the
Bienville, Seneca, (Jurlew, Penguin, and Augusta. The battle was
opened by a gun from Fort Walker at 9:26 a. m. and ended about
2 p. m. ; the enemy abandoning his works with great zeal and pre-
cipitation. Commander 0. R. P. Rodgers with a force of marines
and blue jackets went ashore from the Wabash and took possession
of Fort Walker and by nightfall a brigade of troops was landed
and in possession. At sunrise the next morning Lieutenant com-
manding Daniel Ammen of the Seneca landed and hoisted the
American flag on Fort Beauregard. The forts were badly damaged
by the furious cannonading to which they had been subjected, the
terrific nature of which can be understood from the fact that the
Wabash alone fired nearly nine hundred shells, besides grape and
shrapnel.

The foregoing briefly outlines the circumstances attending the
taking possession of the forts by the Union forces, and is given in
the usual form in which the event is recorded in history. The
following extracts from Flag Officer DuPont's detailed report of
the engagement furnish the foundation for the bestowal upon the
distinguished Kodgers brothers of the honor of landing first and
personally taking possession of Fort Walker:

' ' I sent Commander John Rodgers on shore with a flag of
truce. The hasty flight of the . enemy was visible, and was re-
ported from the tops. At twenty minutes after two Captain Rod-
gers hoisted the flag of the Union over the deserted post. At
forty-five minutes after two I anchored and sent Commander C. R.
P. Rodgers on shore with the marines and a party of seamen to
take possession, and prevent, if necessary, the destruction of public
property. ' '

" Commander John Rodgers, a passenger in this ship, going
to take command of the steamer Hag, volunteered to act upon my
staff. It would be difficult for me to enumerate the duties he per-
formed, they were so numerous and various, and he brought to
them all an invincible energy and the highest order of professional
knowledge and merit. I was glad to show my appreciation of hi«

248 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

great services by allowing him the honor to. hoist the first A
flag on the rebellious soil of South Carolina."

In large operations of this nature it is customary, and
proper, to give credit for worthy deeds to the officer who coi
the acts of his subordinates being assumed to be his owr
actual details attending the landing at Fort Walker differ s<
from the usual historical accounts, and have been learned
author from some documents loaned him by Mr. Hillary M
Superintendent of Motive Power of the Calumet and Heels
Company, one of the most important papers being a letter
in 1883 by Eear Admiral C. E. P. Rodgers, then on the reti

It appears from these records that Third Assistant I
Hillary Messimer of the Wabash, hereafter referred to as
excited the admiration of his superior officers by his cooh
attention to duty during the action while stationed at the
room signal on the bridge, was selected by Flag Officer
to take charge of an armed party of marines to land and sf
guns in the fort should the enemy show any signs of rei
Mr. Messimer' s party took, besides the necessary tools, an A
flag with which he landed and was inside the works wi
stationed at the guns ready to spike them before Command
Rodgers set his foot on the shore. The latter officer sho
from the Wabash when Messimer's boat was almost on sk
his men about to jump overboard to land, in doing whid
moments later Messimer took care to be first, although i
closely by his men, and to him belongs the credit of being
person from the Union force to land in this stronghold of the
With his own hands, assisted by a marine corporal, Mr. 3/
hauled down the Confederate flags from the general and rej
headquarters, after which, leaving a sergeant in command
spiking party, he went down to the beach to meet Comms
R. P. Rodgers then landing with a force of men from the

After receiving and approving Messimer's report of
had done, Commander Rodgers ordered him to go off to
ship and deliver to Flag Officer DuPont the captured flags
Confederate prisoners whom he had taken, and then to i
the fort with the chaplain of the ship to bury the dead ; a

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 240

■was done. A sword carried on board the Wabash wish the Confed-
erate flags was afterward given to Mr. Messimer by Flag Officer Du-
Pont with the complimentary remark, " You have earned it."

This engagement furnishes one of the many striking instances
illustrative of the division of families over the ssues which caused
the Civil War. The Confederate commander of the works at Fort
Royal was General Drayton brother of Commander Percival Dray-
ton of the Federal navy, whose vessel, the Pocahontas, was so dis-
abled in the gale on the voyage down that he did not arrive in time
to be assigned a position in the order of battle, but he succeeded in
reaching the scene of action about noon and rendered gallant serv-
ice by engaging the batteries on both sides in succession, and aided
materially in driving his brother and his men out of the works.

Several of the vessels engaged were badly cut up by the fire
from the forts and it was a matter of surprise, expressed at the
time in the official reports, that the casualties under the circum-
stances were not greater than they were. These amounted to eight
killed and twenty-three wounded, seven of the latter severely. The
only officer killed was Third Assistant Engineer John W. Whitte-
more, of the Mohican, who was stationed on deck at the engine
room telegraph where he was instantly killed by a solid shot com-
ing through the hammock rail and driving before it a piece of an
iron bolt or screw from the rigging which passed through bis head.
Mr. Whittemore was the son of a celebrated Universalist minister
of Boston, and was a highly cultured and accomplished young gen-
tleman, whose New England spirit of patriotism had impelled him
to enter the naval service in a capacity where he feit he could serve
his country most usefully. He had been in the service less than
three months at the time of his death, but in that short time his
many admirable qualities had greatly endeared him to all who were
associated with him.

On the same vessel another assistant engineer, Mr. Mayland
Cuthbert, narrowly escaped being killed while at his post of duty in
the starboard gangway in charge of the fire division. A shot struck
the main yard and cut the jack stay into pieces, one of which took
an oblique direction downward, striking Cuthbert in the thigh and
inflicting a frightful wound, in which the femoral artery was laid
bare, but fortunately not cut. The vacancy on the Mohican caused

250 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

by the killing of Whittemore was filled by transferring
Engineer Absalom Kirby from the Pocahontas, which fa
tioned because, by a curious coincidence, Mr. Kirby had
escaped being killed in the action under the same circ
leading to the death of Mr. Whittemore. He, also, was st
the engine-room bell, which on the Pocahontas was attacl
main mast, and while standing at his station a solid sh
through the mast within a few inches of his head, show<
with splinters but doing him no serious harm.

Attached to the various steamers of the assaulting squa
about seventy-five officers of the Engineer Corps, regulars
unteers, all of whom acquitted themselves with great cre(
their skilful performance of duty, contributed very materis
success of the undertaking. The chief or senior engine
different vessels engaged were the following: Wabash, J.
Susquehanna, Geo. Sewell; Mohican, E. D. Robie, Semm
Harris; Pawnee, W. H. Rutherford; Unadilla, Ed w. Man
tawa, W. W. Dungan; Pembina, Jefferson Young; Isaac
Tucker; Bienville, W. H. Wright; Seneca, J. W. de Kraff
George R. Emory ; Penguin, M. P. Randall; Augusta, G
Sloat. Mr. J. M. Hobby, who at a later period in the y
ly distinguished himself as chief engineer of the Sassacu
with the ram Albemarle, was, on this occasion, the first a
the Susquehanna.

That one at least of the vessels was kept in action by
of her engineers is shown by the following extract from 1
of the commanding officer of the Curlew:

"Messrs Emory, Swasey, McConnell, and Loyds en
the vessel, with great difficulties to contend against, in th
unfitness of engine, boilers and condensing apparatus, fort
service, managed to carry us through the action, for wh:
thankful.

Commander C. R. 1J. Rodgers of the flag ship repor
lows regarding the work of the engineers of that vessel.

"The engine and steam, during the whole action, wen
with consummate skill, which did great credit to Chief
King and his assistants. Third Assistant Engineer Mess

THE STEAM NAVT OF THE UNITED STATES. 251

etood upon the bridge by my side during the action, impressed me
very favorably by his cool intelligence and promptness."

Flag officer DuPont also mentioned Mr. Messimer's excellence
in his report of the battle, and in other reports of commanding offi-
cers occur references from which one concludes that the engineers
were very necessary officials and a part of the combatant element of
the fleet.

The affair of the Trent, on account of its international aspect,
attracted probably more attention and wide-spread interest than
any other single event connected with the operations of the Navy
during the Civil War, and, as two officers of the engineer corps were
prominently concerned, it is proper that a brief account be given
in this work. The U. S. Steamer, San Jacinto, commanded by
Captain Charles Wilkes, was employed the latter part of this year
in cruising about the West Indies seeking for the Confederate pri-
vateer Sumter, which had committed numerous depredations in those
waters; the last day of October the San Jacinto went into the port
of Havana, where Wilkes learned that Messrs Mason and Slidell,
commissioners from the insurgent states to England and France,
were about to sail from that port for St. Thomas on their way to
Europe in the British mail • steamer Trent. These gentlemen with
their families and secretaries had escaped from the blockade about
Charleston in a famous swift blockade-runner, the Theodora, which
had landed them at Cardenas in Cuba. Captain Wilkes was a grim,
taciturn seaman of the old school, which had for its chief article of
faith the celebrated sentiment of Stephen Decatur — "Our country!
In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the
right; but our country, right or wrong," — so when he learned of the
proposed expedition of the Confederate emissaries to preach disrup-
tion of the Union abroad, there was, according to his lights, but one
course of action to pursue, and that was, to intercept them, "right
or wrong."

With this determination in his mind Captain Wilkes went to
sea on the 2nd of November, after having coaled ship in Havana,
and for a day or two cruised along the northern coast of Cuba look-
ing for the Sumter; then he went over to Key West hoping to find
the Powhatan to accompany him on his intended enterprise, but
that ship had gone to sea the day before, thus making it necessary

252 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

for the San Jacinto to -watch for this Trent alone. The
scheduled to sail from Havana or, the 7th of Noveml
make sure of her, Wilkes went down the coast some t\
and forty miles to a place on the sea route to St. Thoma
old Bahama Channel narrows to a width of fifteen mik
San Jacinto arrived on ^November 4 and laid in wait f<
with all the patience of a red Mohawk lurking sleeple
trail over which his enemy might pass. About noon o
8 the Trent ran into this fatal snare and was hove to
thrown across her bows, after a shot had been disregard

The interesting details of what happened when the
boarded are given hereafter in the copies of official re]
boarding officers. For the present it is sufficient to say
Mason and Slidell, after refusing to leave the mail st
man-handled and put into the boats of the San Ja*
aboard that vessel as prisoners, and ultimately incarcer
Warren, Boston Harbor. The Trent was allowed to
voyage after the commissioners had been taken. After
imprisonment Mason and Slidell were delivered to
government in response to a demand not over gracioi
Earl Russel. Captain Wilkes made a mistake in allowi
to escape, for the weight of precedent, established by
the British admiralty courts, was largely on the side (
that neutral vessels knowingly carrying officials or desp
enemy were liable to capture and condemnation. ]
principle of international law justified the act of taking
sioners out of the vessel, and no nation but England
sisted upon such a right; indeed, in 1812, the United
gone to war with the mother-country in opposition
doctrine involved in Wilkes' act.

It is not probable, however, that Wilkes' technic
international law in failing to take the Trent into por
had any real effect upon subsequent events in the case
cedure would have been entirely in accord with the
rules of war, but the wave of popular indignation am
swept over England when the passengers of the Irent
with their tale, is- sulfiVlent proof that considerations
right would not have a determining part in the action

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 2j»3

British Government. The United States, being fully employed in
the task of suppressing the most gigantic rebellion that ever threat-
ened a nation's life, could not engage in war with powerful neigh-
bors disposed to seek it, and the demands made had to be acceded
to whether agreeable or not. A few years later, when the rebellion
was crushed, and the United States had a million armed men, hard-
ened by years of campaigning both ready and willing for any ser-
vice, and our navy, with five hundred vessels in commission, pos-
sessed the heaviest iron-clads and the swiftest cruisers in the world,
another controversey between England and our country ended in
the former swallowing her pride, and accepting the decidedly hu-
miliating terms imposed by an arbitration commission. The two
events, considered singly or together, are an excellent illustration
of the truth of the principle, that might more frequently than right
determines the actions of nations as well as of men.

The officers of the San Jacinto who boarded the Trent,
although performing a duty in which they had no person al'concern,
were treated with great contempt and indignity on board that vessel,
and exhibited in return a spirit of forbearance and dignity highly
creditable to them, and the service which they represented. The
details of their experience on board the Trent are usually eclipsed
by the more important complications growing out of the event; they
are, however, most interesting as showing what naval officers some-
times have to do in the line of their varied duties, and are here
presented in the form of the reports made by the boarding officers.

United States Steameb San Jacinto,
At Sea, November 12, 1861.

Sie: At 1:20 p. m., on the 8th instant, I repaired alongside of
the British mail packet in an armed cutter, accompanied by Mr.
Houston, second assistant engineer, and Mr. Grace, the boatswain.

1 went on board the Trent alone, leaving the two officers in the
boat with orders to await until it became necessary to show some
force.

I was shown up by the first officer to the quarter-deck, where I
met the Captain and informed him who I was, asking to see the pas-
senger list. He declined letting me see it. I then told him that I
had information of Mr. Mason, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Eustis, and Mr.

254 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

McFarland having taken their passage at Havana in the
St. Thomas, and would satisfy myself whether they wer
before allowing the steamer to proceed. Mr. Slidell, evidi
ing his name mentioned, came up to me and asked if I
see him. Mr. Mason soon joined us, and then Mr. East
McFarland, when I made known the object of my visit.
tain of the Trent opposed anything like the search of his
would he consent to show papers or passenger list. The
tlemen above mentioned protested also against my arr<
sending them to the United States steamer near by. Ther
siderable noise among the passengers just about this time
led Mr. Houston and Mr. Grace to repair on board with s
eight men, all armed. After several unsuccessful efforts fc
Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell, to go with me peaceably, I
Mr. Houston and ordered him to return to the ship with
mation that the four gentlemen named in your order of th
atant were on board, and force must be applied to take tt
the packet.

About three minutes after there was still greater exci
the quarter deck, which brought Mr. Grace with his arm
I however deemed the presence of any armed men unnecei
only calculated to alarm the ladies present, and directed ]
to return to the lower deck, where he had been since first <
board. It must have been less than half an hour after I be
Trent when the second armed cutter, under Lieutenant Gr
alongside, (only two armed boats being used). He broug
third cutter eight marines and four machinists, in addition
of some twelve men. When the marines and some armed
been formed just out side of the main deck cabin, where 1
gentlemen had gone to pack up their baggage, I renewed j
to induce them to accompany me on board — still refusing t
any me unless force was applied. I called in to my assisl
or five officers, and first taking hold of Mr. Mason's shoul
another officer on the opposite side, I went as far as the gf
the steamer, and delivered him over to Lieutenant Gre
placed in the boat. I then returned for Mr. Slidell, wh
that I must apply considerable force to get him to go with rr
in at last three officers, he also was taken in charge and ha

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 255

to Mr. Greer. Mr. McFarland and Mr. Eustis, after protesting,
went quietly into the boat. They had been permitted to collect
their baggage, but were sent in advance of it under charge of Lieu-
tenant Greer. I gave my personal attention to the luggage, saw it
put in a boat and sent in charge of an officer to the San Jacinto.

When Mr. Slidell was taken prisoner a great deal of noise was
made by some of the passengers, which caused Lieutenant Greer to
send the marines into the cabin. They were immediately ordered
to return to their former position outside. I carried out my purpose
without using any force beyond what appears in this report. The
mail agent, who is a retired commander in the British navy, seem-
ed to have a great deal to say as to the propriety of my course, but
I purposely avoided all official intercourse with him. When I finally
was leaving the steamer he made some apology for his rude conduct,
and expressed personally his approval of the manner in which I
had carried out my orders. We parted company from the Trent at
2:30 p. m.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. M. Fairfax,
Lieutenant and Executive Officer.

Captain Charles Wilkes, U. S. N.,
Commanding San Jacinto.

United States Steamer San Jacinto,
At Sea, November 12, 1861.

Sie: In accordance with your instructions I submit the follow-
ing: On November 8th, between 1 and 2 p. m., I was ordered by
Lieutenant Breese, acting executive officer, to shove off with the
third cutter and go alongside the English mail steamer, which
was then lying-to under our guns. In the boat with me were Third
Assistant Engineer Hall, Paymaster's Clerk Simpson, Master's
Mate Dahlgren, one sergeant, one corporal, and six privates, of
marines; four machinists and the crew, consisting of thirteen men,
the whole party being well armed. When I arrived on the steamer,
I was met on the guard by Mr. Grace, with a message from Lieu-
tenant Fairfax (who had preceded me on board) to bring the marines
on board and station them outside of the cabin, which I did ; also to

256 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

keep the spare men on the guard, and to have the boat'f
readiness to jump on board if needed. As soon as the mai
stationed, I had the space outside and forward of the cabin
of passengers, and assumed a position where I could see 1
Fairfax, who was then engaged in conversation with pers
cabin. He shortly came out and told me to remain as I was.
went back into the cabin, and in a few minutes returned
Mason. He had his hand on his shoulder, and I think
had his on the other one. He transferred Mr. Mason to
had the third cutter hauled up, into which he got. Sh
Mr. McFarland came out and got into the boat; I think h<
accompanied by any of the officers. About this time I he;
deal of loud talking in the cabin, and above all I heard i
voice. I could not hear what she said. Mr. Fairfax appe
having an altercation with some one. There was much
created by the passengers and ship's officers, who were u
kinds of disagreeable and contemptuous noises and remar
Just then Mr. Houston came to me and said he thoi
would be trouble. I told him to ask Mr. Fairfax if I sh<
in the marines. He returned with an answer to bring thei
that time I heard some one call out ' ' shoot him. " I 01
marines to come into the cabin, which they did at quick 1
they advanced the passengers fell back. Mr. Fairfax th€
the marines to go out of the cabin, which they did, Mr.
the same time jumping out of a window of a state-rooi
cabin, where he was arrested by Mr. Fairfax, and was th<
by Mr. Hall and Mr. Grace to the boat, into which he g
after Mr. Eustis came to the boat, accompanied by Mr. ¥
then, by his order, took charge of the boat and conveyed
tlemen arrested, viz: Messrs. Slidell, Mason, McFai
Eustis to the San Jacinto, where I delivered them over
Wilkes. This was about 2 o'clock. I then returned to th
when I reached her the baggage of the gentlemen '
brought up and sent to the San Jacinto. Soon after JV
told me to send the marines and spare hauds on board, w
He then left me in charge of our party and went on boar
Jacinto. About 3 o'clock she ran under the Trent's si
hailed and directed to come on board, which I did with

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 257

ing Mr. Grace, Mr. Dahlgren and Mr. Hall, who came in another
boat.

Yery respectfully, your obedient servant,

James A. Grebe,

Lieutenant.

Captain C. Wilkes,

Commanding San Jaci/nto.

P. S. I desire to add that it was about 1.35 p. m. when I
went alongside the Irent. There were but two armed boats used
during the day; a third boat, the crew of which were unarmed, went
alongside during the detention. When I first went on board with
the marines, and at intervals during my stay, the officers of the
steamer made a great many irritating remarks to each other and to
the passengers, which were evidently intended for our benefit.
Among other things said were: "Did you ever hear of such an out-
rage?" "Marines on board! Why, this looks devilish like
mutiny." " These Yankees will have to pay well for this. " " This
is the best thing in the world for the South; England will open the
blockade. " " We will have a good chance at them now. " " Did
you ever hear of such a piratical act?" "Why, this is a perfect
Bull's Run!" "They would not have dared to have done it if an
English man-of-war had been in sight." The mail agent, (a man in
the uniform of a commander in the royal navy, I think) was very
indignant and talkative, and tried several times to get me into a dis-
cussion of the matter. I told him I was not there for that purpose.
He was very bitter; He told me that the English squadron would
raise the blockade in twenty days after his report of this outrage (I
think he said outrage) got home; that the Northerners might as well
give up now, etc. , etc. ' ' Most all the officers of the vessel showed
an undisguised hatred for the Northern people and a sympathy for
the Confederates. I will do the captain of the vessel the justice to
say that he acted differently from the rest, being, when I saw him,
very reserved and dignified. The oflicers and men of our party
took no apparent notice of the remarks that were made, and acted
with the greatest forbearance.

Respectfully,

Jab. A. Geeee.

258 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

United States Steameb San
At sea, November 13, 186

Sir: In obedience to your order of the 11th instant,
fully report: That upon going alongside of the Engli
Trent, on the 8th of this month, Lieutenant Fairfax wen
ordering the boatswain and myself to remain in the bo:
minutes after this my attention was attracted by persons
a loud and excited manner upon the steamer's upper dec
considering its meaning the noise was repeated, which d
to join Lieutenant Fairfax immediately on board, and
surrounded by the officers of the ship and passengers, am
I recognized Messrs. Mason, Slidell,and Eustis. The c<
this time passes description. So soon, however, as h<
heard, the mail agent (who was a retired lieutenant or c
in the British navy) protested against the act of removi
gers from an English steamer. Lieutenant Fairfax reqi
Mason to go quietly to the San Jacinto, but that gentlen
that he would "yield only to force;" whereupon I was
our ship to report the presence of the above-named i
together with Mr. McFarland, and ask that the remain
force be sent to the Trent, after which I returned to her,
ing the cabin, saw Mr. Fairfax endeavoring to enter M
room, which was then prevented in a measure by the
which prevailed in and around that gentleman's quarters,
sengers (not including Mr. Mason, Slidell, Eustis or J
were disposed to give trouble; some of them went so
threaten, and upon Lieutenant Greer being informed by
fact, he ordered the marines to clear the passage-way of
but as Mr. Slidell had now come out of his state room t!
window, where we could get to him, the order to the n
countermanded by Lieutenant Fairfax. Mr. Slidell was
the boat by Mr. Grace and myself, and no more forci
than would show what would be done in case of neces
Mason was taken in charge by Lieutenant Fairfax and Tl
ant Engineer Hall. The two secretaries walked into tl
themselves.

While we were on board of the 2 rent many remarks
reflecting discreditably upon us and the government of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 259

States. No one was more abusive than the mail agent, who took
pains at the same time to inform us that he was the only person on
board officially connected with her Brittanic majesty's government,
who he said would, in consequence of this act, break the blockade
of the southern United States ports. Another person, supposed to
be a passenger, was so violent that the captain ordered him to
be locked up. A short time before leaving the steamer I was in-
formed by one of her crew that the mail agent was advising the cap-
tain to arm the crew and passengers of his ship, which I immediately
communicated to Lieutenant Greer. About 3:30 p. m. we returned
to the San Jacinto.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. B. Houston,

Second Assistant Engineer,

U. S. Steamer San Jacinto.
Captain Charles Wilkes,

Commanding.

United States Steamer San Jacinto,
At sea, November 13, 1861.

Sir: — In obedience to your order of the 11th instant, I respect-
fully make the following report of what came under my observation
onboard the mail steamer Trent whilst hove-to under our guns on
the 8th instant:

I boarded the steamer in the third cutter, under the command
of Lieutenant Greer. Immediately on reaching the steamer's deck
I stationed four men (an oiler, assistant oiler and two firemen) who
accompanied me, in the port gang- way. I then went into the cabin,
where I saw Lieutenant Fairfax, surrounded by a large number of
passengers and the officers of the ship. He was conversing with Mr.
Mason, and endeavoring to get him to come peaceably on board this
ship. Mr. Mason refused to comply unless by force, and taking
hold of Mr. Mason's coat collar, gave an order, "Gentlemen, lay
hands on him. ' ' I then laid hold of him by the coat collar, when
Mr. Mason said he would yield under protest. I accompanied him
as far as the boat, which was at the port gang- way.

Returning to the cabin, Lieutenant Fairfax was at Mr. Slidell's
room. After a short time Mr. Slidell came from his room through

260 THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES.

a side window. He also refused Lieutenant Fairfax's orde
on board this ship, unless by force. I, with several of th(
then caught hold, and used sufficient power to remove him
cabin. He was accompanied to the boat by Second Assists
neer Houston and Boatswain Grace. I then received an or
both Lieutenants Fairfax and Greer to retain the boat unti
Eustis and McFarland were found. I remained in the gai
Messrs. Mason, Slidell, Eustis and McFarland shoved off,
ant Greer having charge of the gentlemen.

There was a great deal of excitement and talking d
whole time, the officers of the steamer endeavoring parti<
thwart Lieutenant Fairfax in carrying out his orders. T
used very harsh expressions toward us, calling us pirates
expedition, etc. , and threatened to open our blockade in a f c
At one time the officers and passengers made a demonstrati
moment the marine guard came hastily in the cabin, but w<
diately ordered back by Lieutenant Fairfax.

As far as I am able to judge, everything was conduct
part in a peaceable, quiet and gentlemanly manner, and
markably so by Lieutenant Fairfax, who certainly had suffic
to resort to arms. I remained aboard the Irent till aftei
gage belonging to the gentlemen had been sent, and finallj
to this ship with Lieutenant Greer.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

Geo. W. Hall,
Third Assistant Engineer,
Captain Charles Wilkes,

Commanding U. S. Steamer Sam Jacinto.

Lieutenants Fairfax and Greer, who had such a co
part in this affair, have both since made enviable recordi
tinguished services in the navy, and have both risen to tb
rear admiral; the former was retired in 1881 and died in
1894. Hear Admiral Greer is also on the retired list no
had the distinguished honor of being the senior officer of
for some months before his retirement. Second Assistant
Houston served his country faithfully throughout the war an
from the naval service in July, 1865, to engage in busii

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 261

has been eminently successful, having been a director, vice-presi-
dent and president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for a
long period of years, and only recently gave up active business to
enter into the quiet enjoyment of a fortune which his talents have
enabled him to amass during his busy life. Third Assistant Engi-
neer Hall served faithfully throughout the rebellion and resigned
from the service not long after the close of the war.

The chief engineer of the San Jacmto was Mr. John Faron,who
three years later was killed on board the le&wmseh with all five of
his assistant engineers in the battle of Mobile Bay.

CHAPTEK XVI.

"The man who goes into action in a wooden vessel is a fool, am
sends him there is a villain." — Admiral Sir John Hat.

1861. The Civil War, continued— The First American Iron Clads— The?
Condemned by a Board of Naval Officers — Authority to Build Ai
Conferred by Act of Congress — Beport of Board on Iron-Clad
Galena, New Ironsides, and Monitor — Armored Vessels in
Biver.

AT the outbreak of the Civil War the United States had
i\ war vessels, although the example of the unfinish
battery and the presentation of plans for an armored floa
by the Swedish- American inventor John Ericsson to tl
Napoleon III. had resulted in the adoption of iron armc
a limited extent. Three iron-plated floating batteries ha
by the French in the Crimean War, and at the beginning
1861 that nation had La Gloire and three other large wc
frigates in commission, all sheathed with light iron armc
teen others in process of construction. England also 1
the field and had at sea the Warrior, Black Prince, Dej
tance and Royal Oak, large armored steam-ships similar t<
with sixteen other armor-clads in various stages of c<
These British and French vessels were large full-rigged
auxiliary steam power, dependent upon the wind fully
upon steam for locomotion; their iron sides constituted tl
ture wherein they resembled the Stevens' battery or the
gested by Ericsson to Napoleon in 1854.

A joint resolution of Congress approved June 24, 18
the Secretary of the Navy to appoint a board to examine 1
battery and ascertain the cost and time necessary for its
and the expediency thereof. The board consisted of C
Silas H. Stringham and William Inman, Captain T.
Chief Engineer A. C. Stimers, and Joseph Henry, Esq
of the Smithsonian Institution. The report of this boan
until the end of the year, was adverse to the completior

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 263

battery, and the project was then dropped, so far as the government
waB concerned.

An extra session of Congress was assembled by presidential
proclamation July 4r, 1861, to which, the Secretary of the Navy
made a report on the condition of the navy at that time. In this
report the Secretary referred to the attention given by England and
France to iron-clad war-steamers, and asked for authority to con-
struct such vessels if an investigation by a competent board should
show such construction to be advisable. Congress responded with
liberality and promptness by an act, approved August 3, 1861, en-
titled "An Act to provide for the construction of one or more
armored ships and floating batteries, and for other purposes, ' ' it be-
ing brief and to the point, as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of
the Navy be, and is hereby authorized and directed to appoint a
board of three skilful naval officers to investigate the plans and spe-
cifications that may be submitted for the construction or completing
of iron or steel-clad steamships or steam batteries, and, on their re-
port, should it be favorable, the Secretary of the Navy will cause
one or more armored or iron or steel-clad steamships or floating steam
batteries to be built; and there is hereby appropriated, out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one
million five hundred thousand dollars.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in case of a vacancy in
the office of engineer-in-chief of the navy the appointment thereto
shall be made from the list of chief engineers.

August 7, the Navy Department issued an advertisement ask-
ing for bids from responsible persons for the construction of one or
more iron-clad steam-vessels of war, either of iron or of wood and
iron combined, for sea or river service, the advertisement giving in
general terms the principal requirements. These were, that vessels
proposed must be of not less than ten, nor more than sixteen feet
draft; must carry an armament of from eighty to one hundred and
twenty tons weight, with provisions and stores for from one hundred
and sixty-five to three hundred persons, according to armament, for

264 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

six'ty days, with coal for eight days; must have two masts
rope standing rigging for navigating the sea. The lighte
water, compatible with other requisites, was preferred,
descriptions and drawings of vessel, armor and machinery
quired, as well as estimates of cost and time for com
the whole. Twenty-five days from date of advertisemem
lowed for the presentation of plans.

A naval board, composed of Commodore Joseph Sir
modore Hiram Paulding, and Commander Charles H. I
appointed on the eighth of August to examine carefull;
submitted and report upon the same. The report of t'
dated September 16, 1861, is both interesting and anstra
many points of view, showing as it does the opinions ente
the naval men of that period regarding armor, and its proba
it also unfolds some of the rare schemes of inventors am
who rushed to their country's succor. It follows in full:

REPORT ON IRON CLAD VESSELS.

Navy Department,
Bureau of Yards and Docks, Septembe

Sir: The undersigned, constituting a board appointe
order of the 8th ultimo, proceeded to the duty assigned ti
accordance with the first section of an act of Congress, ap
of August 1861, directing the Secretary of the Navy "to
board of three skilful naval officers to investigate the plans
fications that may be submitted for the construction or c
of iron-clad steam-ships or steam batteries, and on the
should it be favorable, the Secretary of the Navy will cau
more armored or iron -clad or steel clad steamships or floa'
batteries to be built; and there is hereby appropriated, o
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the si
million five hundred thousand dollars. ' '

Distrustful of our ability to discharge this duty, whic
requires should be performed by three skilful naval office]
proach the subject with diffidence, having no experienc
scanty knowledge in this branch of naval architecture.

The planB submitted are so various, and in many r<
entirelv dissimilar, that without a more thorough knowled

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 265

mode of construction and the resisting properties of iron than we
possess, it is very likely that some of our conclusions may prove
erroneous.

Application was made to the Department for a naval construc-
tor, to be placed under our orders, with whom we might consult;
but it appears that they are all so employed on important service
that none could be assigned to this duty.

The construction of iron clad steamships of war is now zealously
claiming the attention of foreign naval powers. France led ; Eng-
land followed, and is now somewhat extensively engaged in the sys-
tem; and other powers seem to emulate their example, though on a
smaller scale.

Opinions differ amongst naval and scientific men as to the
policy of adopting the iron armature for ships-of-war. For coast
and harbor defence they are undoubtedly formidable adjuncts to
fortifications on land. As cruising vessels, however, we are skepti-
cal as to their advantage and ultimate adoption. But whilst other
nations are endeavoring to perfect them, we must not remain idle.

The enormous load of iron, as so much additional weight to the
vessel; the great breadth of beam necessary to give her stability; the
short supply of coal she will be able to stow in bunkers; the greater
power required to propel her; and the largely increased cost of con-
struction, are objections to this class of vessels as cruisers, which we
believe it is difficult successfully to overcome. For river and har-
bor service we consider iron-clad vessels of light draught, or floating
batteries thus shielded, as very important; and we feel at this mo-
ment the necessity of them on some of our rivers and inlets to en-
force obedience to the laws. We however do not hesitate to express
the opinion, notwithstanding all we have heard or seen written on
the subject, that no ship or floating battery, however heavily she
may be plated, can cope successfully with a properly constructed
fortification of masonry. The one is fixed and immovable and
though constructed of a material which may be shattered by shot, can
be covered if need be, by the same or much heavier armor than a
floating vessel can bear, whilst the other is subject to disturbances
by winds and waves, and to the powerful effects of tides and currents.

Armored ships or batteries may be employed advantageously
to pass fortifications on land for ulterior objects of attack, to run a

266 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

blockade, or to reduce temporary batteries on the shore
and the approaches to our harbors.

From what we know of the comparative advantages
vantages of ships constructed of wood over those of i:
clearly of opinion that no iron-clad vessel of equal displa
be made to obtain the same speed as one not thus encur
cause her form would be better " adapted to speed. He
dimensions, the unyielding nature of the shield, detract
in a heavy sea from the life, buoyancy and spring which
of wood possesses.

Wooden ships may be said to be but coffins for
when brought in conflict with iron-clad vessels; but the s
former, we take for granted, being greater than that of
they can readily choose their position and keep out of r
entirely.

Recent improvements in the form and preparations
tiles, and their increased capacity for destruction, have
large amount of ingenuity and skill to devise means fc
them in the construction of ships-of-war. As yet we kn<
ing superior to the large and heavy spherical shot in its
effects on vessels, whether plated or not.

Rifled guns have greater range, but the conical she
produce the crushing effect of spherical shot.

It is assumed that 4£ inch plates are the heaviest ar
going vessel can safely carry. These plates should be of 1
and rolled in large, long pieces. This thickness of arm(
lieved, will resist all projectiles now in use at a distar.
yards, especially if the ship's sides are angular.

Plates hammered in large masses are less fibrous
than when rolled. The question whether wooden backi
elastic substance behind the iron plating, will tend to re
the frame of the ships from the crushing effect of a heavy
is not yet decided. Major Barnard says: "to put an elast
behind the iron is to insure its destruction. ' ' With all
to such creditable authority, we may suggest that it is
backing of some elastic substance (soft wood, perhaps is
might relieve the frame of the ship somewhat from the ter
of a heavy projectile, though the plate should not be frac

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 267

With respect to a comparison between ships of iron and those
of wood, without plating, high authorities in England differ as to
which is the best. The tops of ships built of iron, we are told, wear
out three bottoms, whilst the bottoms of those built of wood will
outwear three tops. In deciding on the relative merits of iron and
wooden-framed vessels, for each of which we have offers, the board
is of opinion that it would be well to try a specimen of each, as both
have distinguished advocates. One strong objection to iron vessels,
which, so far as we know, has not yet been overcome, is the oxida-
tion or rust in salt water, and their liability of becoming foul under
water by the attachment of sea grass and animalcules to their bot-
toms. The best preventive we know of is a coating of pure zinc
paint, which so long as it lasts, is believed to be an antidote to this
cause of evil.

After these brief remarks on the subject generally, we proceed
to notice the plans and offers referred to us for the construction of
plated vessels and floating batteries.

It has been suggested that the most ready mode of obtaining an
iron-clad ship of war would be to contract with responsible parties
in England for its complete construction; and we are assured that
parties there are ready to engage in such an enterprise on terms
more reasonable, perhaps, than such vessels could be built in
this country, having much greater experience and facilities than we
possess. Indeed, we are informed there are no mills and machinery
in this country capable of rolling iron ty inches thick, though plates
might be hammered to that thickness in many of our work-shops. As
before observed, rolled iron is considered much the best, and the
difficulty of rolling it increases rapidly with the increase of thick-
ness. It has, however, occured to us that a difficulty might arise
with the British government in case we should undertake to con-
struct ships-of-war in that country, which might complicate their de-
livery; and, moreover, we are of opinion that every people or
nation who can maintain a navy should be capable of constructing it
themselves.

Our immediate demands seem to require, first, so far as practi-
cable, vessels invulnerable to shot, of light draught of water, to
penetrate our shoal harbors, rivers and bayous. We therefore favor
the construction of this class of vessels before going into a more
perfect system of large iron-clad sea-going vessels of war. We

268 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

are here met with the difficulty of encumbering small '
armor, which, from their size, they are unable to bear. "VS
less recommend that contracts be made with responsible
the construction of one or more iron-clad vessels or batterii
a draught of water as practicable, consistent with their weig
Meanwhile, availing ourselves of the experience thu
and the improvements which we believe are yet to be vm
naval powers in building iron-clad ships, we would adv
struction, in our own navy yards, of one or more of th
upon a large and more perfect scale, when Congress sha
authorize it. The amount now appropriated is not suffic;
both classes of vessels to any great extent.

We have made a synopsis of the propositions and s]
submitted, which we annex, and now proceed to state, ii
result of our decisions upon the offers presented to us.

J. Ericsson, New York, page 19. — This plan of at
tery is novel, but seems to be based upon a plan which
the battery shot and shell proof. We are somewhat a]
that her properties for sea are not such as a sea-going v(
possess. But she may be moved from one place to anol
coast in smooth water. We recommend that an experinn
with one battery of this description on the terms propc
guarantee and forfeiture in case of failure in any of th
and points of the vessel as proposed.

Price, $275,000; length of vessel, 172 feet; breadtl
41 feet; depth of hold, 11£ feet; time, 100 days; draug]
10 feet; displacement, 1,255 tons; speed per hour, 9 stal

John W. Ntsteom, Philadelphia, 1216 Chestnut St
The plan of (quadruple) guns is not known and cannot
ered. The dimensions would not float the vessel a
guards, which we are not satisfied would repel shot,
recommend the plan.

Price, about $175,000; length of vessel, 175 feet;
beam, 27 feet; depth of hold, 13 feet; time, four mont
of water, 10 feet; displacement, 875 tons; speed p«
knots.-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. . 269

last proposal (No. 3, page 2) for the heavy plating is the only one
we have considered; but there is neither drawing nor model, and
the capacity of the vessel, we think, will not bear the armor and
armament proposed.

Price, $ 621, 000; length of vessel, 225 feet; breadth of beam,
45^ feet; depth of hold, 15^ feet; time, 9 months; draught of water
13 feet; displacement, 2,454 tons; speed per hour, 10 knots.

John C. Lk Febbe, Boston, page 9. — Description deficient.
Not recommended. Sent a model, but neither price, time, nor
dimensions stated.

E. S. Renwick, New York, 335 Broadway, presents drawings,
specifications and model of an iron-clad vessel of large capacity and
powerful engines, with great speed, capable of carrying a heavy
battery, and stated to be shot-proof and a good sea boat. The
form and manner of construction and proportions of the vessel are
novel, and will attract the attention of scientific and practical men.
She is of very light draft of water, and on the question whether she
will prove to be a safe and comfortable sea-boat we do not express
a decided opinion. Yessels of somewhat similar form, in the part
of the vessel which is emersed, of light draught of water on our
western lakes, have, we believe, proved entirely satisfactory in all
weathers. To counteract the effect of the waves, when disturbed
by the winds, by producing a jerk, or sudden rolling motion of flat
shoal vessels, it is proposed to carry a sufficient weight above the
center of gravity to counterpoise the heavy weight below, which is
done in this ship by the immense iron armor. If, after a full dis-
cussion and examination by experts on this plan, it should be de-
cided that she is a safe vessel for sea service, we would recommend
the construction upon it of one ship at one of our dock yards.

The estimate cost of this ship, $1,500,000, precludes action
upon the plan until further appropriations shall be made by Con-
gress for such objects.

Time not stated; length of vessel 400 feet; breadth of beam,
60 feet; depth of hold, 33 feet; draught of water, 16 feet; displace-
ment, 6,520 tons; speed per hour, at least 18 miles.

Whitney & Rowland, Brooklyn, Greenpoint, page 13; propose
an iron gunboat, armor of bars of iron and thin plate over it. No
price stated. Dimensions of vessel, we think, will not bear the
weight and possess stability. Time, 5 months. Not recommended.

270 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Length of vessel, 140 feet; breadth of beam, 28 fet
hold, 13f feet; draught of water, 8 feet.

Donald McKay, Boston, page &.- — Vessel, in gen
sions and armor, approved. The speed estimated slow,
precludes the consideration of construction by the board

Price,, $1,000,000; length of vessel, 227 feet; breac
50 feet; depth of hold, 26£ feet; time, 9 to 10 months;
water, 14 feet; displacement, 3,100 tons; speed per 1
knots.

William H. Wood, Jersey City, N. J., page 1
sions will not float the guns high enough; not recommei

Price, $255,000; length of vessel, 160 feet; breadt
34 feet; depth of hold, 22 feet; time, 4 months; draugb
13 feet; displacement, 1,215 tons; speed, not stated.

Merrick & Sons, Philadelphia, pages 7 and 8-
wood and iron combined. This proposition we considi
practical one for heavy armor. We recommend that a
made with that party, under a guarantee, with forfeitur
failure to comply with the specifications; and that the
quire the plates to be 15 feet long and 36 inches wide, \
vation of some modifications which may occur as the
gresses, not to affect the cost.

Price, $780,000; length of vessel, 220 feet; breadt
60 feet; depth of hold, 23 feet; time, 9 months; draugl
13 feet; displacement, 3,296 tons; speed per hour, 9-J k

Benjamin Rathbukn, , page 20. — We do not

the plan for adoption.

Price not stated; length of vessel not stated; bread'
80 feet; depth of hold, 74 feet; time not stated; draugl
25 feet; displacement, 15,000, tons; speed not stated; s
incomplete.

Henry E,. Dunham, New York, page 11. — Vessel
for the appropriation; no drawings or specifications;
mended.

Price, $1,200,000; length of vessel, 325 feet; bread
60 feet; depth of hold not stated; time, 15 to 18 monl
of water, 16 feet; displacement not stated; speed p<
miles.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 271

pose a vessel to be iron-clad, od the rail and plate principle, and to
obtain high speed. The objection to this vessel is the fear that she
will not float her armor and load sufficiently high, and have stabil-
ity enough for a sea vessel. With a guarantee that she shall do
these, we recommend on that basis a contract.

Price, $235,250; length of vessel, 180 feet; breadth of beam,
— feet; depth of hold, 12f feet; time, 4 months; draught of water,
10 feet; displacement, — tons; speed per hour, 12 knots.

John Westwood, Cincinnati, Ohio, page 17. — Vessel of wood,
with iron armor; plan good enough, but the breadth not enough to
bear the armor. No detailed specification; no price or time stated;
only a general drawing. Not recommended.

Neafie & Levy, Philadelphia, page 5. — No plans or drawings,
therefore not considered. Neither price nor time stated.

Length of vessel, 200 feet; breadth of beam, 40 feet; depth of
hold, 15 feet; draught of water, 13 feet; displacement, 1,748 tons;
speed per hour, 10 knots.

Wm. Noeeis, New York, 26 Cedar street, page 6. — Iron boat
without armor — too small and not recommended.

Price, $32,000; length of vessel 83 feet; breadth of beam 25
feet; depth of hold 14 feet; time 60 to 75 days; draught of water. 3
feet; displacement 90 tons; speed not stated.

Wm. Kingsley, Washington, D. C, page 10, proposes a rubier-
clad vessel, which we cannot recommend. No price or dimensions
stated.

A. Beebe, New York, 82 Broadway, page 18. — Specification
and sketch defective. Plan not approved.

Price, $50,000; length of vessel, 120 feet; breadth of beam, 55
feet; depth not stated; time 100 days; draught of water, 6 ft. dis-
placement, 1,000 tons; speed per hour, 8 knots.

These three propositions recommended, viz: Bushnell & Co.,
New Haven, Connecticut; Merrick & Sons, Philadelphia, and J.
Ericsson, New York, will absorb $1,290,050 of the appropriation
of $1,500,000, leaving $209,750 yet unexpended.

The board recommends that armor with heavy guns be placed
on one of our river craft, or, if none will bear it, to construct a
scow, which will answer, to plate and shield the guns, for the river
service on the Potomac, to be constructed or prepared by the gov-
ernment at the navy yard here for immediate use.

272 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

We would further recommend that the Department :
gress at the next session, an appropriation, for experii
iron plates of different kinds, of $ 10, 000.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

Josepi

H. Pi

C. H.

Hon. Gideon Welles,

Secretary of the Navy.

The first of the three plans accepted resulted in

dated September 27, 1861, with C. S. Bushnell & C

Haven, Conn., for the armored gunboat that was nam

She was built at Mystic Bridge, Conn., from designs ]

Mr. S. H. Pook, afterward a constructor in the navy, foi

and was completed in Apri!, 1862, being almost immedi

after in action and badly damaged at Drury's Bluff,

river. In form the Galena was similar to an ordinary

with the important difference that her sides tumbled

angle of nearly forty-five degrees and were covered wit

and plates, protecting a gun deck in which six large

mounted. She was rated as of 738 tons burden, and Wi

a two-masted foretopsail schooner. There were two Eric

ing lever engines, with horizontal cylinders for'y-eigl]

diameter and three feet stroke, driving a four-bladed

peller, twelve feet in diameter and twenty feet pitch.

supplied by two horizontal tubular boilers with three

each, two blower engines for fan blast being prov

Galena's armor was about four inches in thickness and i

shattered at Drury's Bluff that she was not considered

an armor clad, although she continued in active service

the war, and, lashed to the unfortunate Oneida, was ir

fleet in Mobile Bay. In the early '70'y, under the guise

ing" her, the Department built the 1,900 ton sloop of

that was for many years a prominent figure in our wood

The contract with Merr'.ck & Sons of Philadelphia gav
States navy the New Ironsides, beyond question the fine
formidable example of a battle-ship in existence at tl

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 273

first took the sea. The hull was built of white oak at Cramp's ship-
yard in Philadelphia, Merrick & Sons building the machinery at
their own works. The engines were of only about seven hundred
horse power and could drive the ship scarcely six knots an hour,
but that was regarded as fast enough for the service required of her,
as it was not apprehended that she would be obliged to run away
from anything then afloat. The contract price was $780,000. She
was of 4,120 tons displacement; 232 feet long; 57£ feet beam, and
mounted a very heavy battery, consisting of sixteen Xl-inch Dahl-
gren guns, two 200-pounder Parrott rifles, and four 24-pounder
howitzers.

The New Ironsides was large and decidedly ship-shape in ap-
pearance, with a projecting ram bow, the sides for the length of the
main battery being sheathed with four inches of iron plate armor,
the bow and stern sections being unarmored. The main battery
was also protected with athwart-ship bulkheads, or walls, of the
same thickness of armor as the sides, so she was really a case-mated
ship. She was originally bark-rigged, but when sent to the seat of
war she was stripped for fighting, the masts being taken out at
Port Boyal and replaced with light clothes-poles, with which rig
her appearance was remarkably like that of a modern war- vessel.
In 1863 the masts were replaced previous to a trip north for repairs,
but were again removed, this time at Norfolk, before she again
went into action.

Completed late in 1862, she proceeded at once to the front and
was actively employed during the remainder of the rebellion, it
being said of her that she was in action more days than any other
vessel of our navy during the war. Mr. William S. Wells of New
Haven, Connecticut, recently the Rear Admiral of the National
Association of Naval Veterans, was attached to the New Ironsides
as an assistant engineer during her entire period of war service, be-
ginning with her first commission, and was the only officer who re-
mained in her that length of time. To him Admiral Porter wrote
long after the war that the New Ironsides had a racord for having
been hammered more thoroughly than any .vessel that ever floated,
and gave, with other interesting facts about the ship, the statement
that in a series of engagements from July 18 to September 8, 1863,
she had fired four thousand four hundred and thirty-nine eleven-

274 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

inch projectiles. In one engagement with the batteries
van's Island she was struck seventy times within three 1
aside from some temporary damage to the port-shutters,
engineers quickly repaired, was in perfect fighting condit
end of the action. On another occasion she very narrow
being blown up by a torpedo. At the close of the war sh
up at the League Island navy yard, where, on the night c
ber 15-16, 1866, she was burned to the water's edge, ha^
fire in some unknown manner late at night and not discos
the flames were beyond control.

The picture of this famous ship which appears in ti
reproduction of a drawing made by Second Assistant Eng
liam S. Wells, before referred to as having served in he
out her war career, and represents the New Ironsides exa
looked in the battles in Charleston harbor in 1863.

The third proposal accepted resulted in the cons
John Ericcson's Monitor, probably the most famous s
making cratt that ever floated, unless we revert to very a
tory and except Noah's Ark. The contract for this nove
was made October 4, 1861, between John Ericsson and ]
on one part, and Gideon Welles, as Secretary of the Ns
other. It provided that the parties of the first part shoul
an iron-clad, shot-proof steam battery, of iron and wood
on Ericsson's plan; the length to be 179 feet; extreme b
feet, and depth 5 feet, or larger if found necessary, t<
required armament and stores. A sea speed of eight knc
maintained for twelve consecutive hours was stipulated,
tract price was $275,000, to be paid in five instalments <
each and one of $25,000, payments to be made upon cei
the naval superintendent of construction when in his judg
had progressed sufficiently to warrant them. A rese
twenty-five per cent, was withheld from each paymen
tained until after the completion and satisfactory trial of
not to exceed ninety days after she was ready for sea.

A clause of the contract provided that in case the
not develop the stipulated speed or failed in other stat
ments the contractors should refund to the United Sta
amount of money paid them. This clause is the basis

o
«

M
|S

a
w

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 277

repeated statement that Ericsson and his sureties paid for the build-
ing of the vessel themselves; this was not the case, as all the pay-
ments, excepting the twenty-five per cent, reservation, were made
before the Monitor left New York, although the contract would
have required the contractors to pay for her had it not been for her
fortunate encounter with the Merrirnac, as her speed and some
other qualities could not have been regarded as satisfactory. Her
performance in Hampton Roads was regarded as a satisfactory test
and the Navy Department paid the reservations within a week
thereafter without insisting upon the full letter of the contract being
carried out in minor particulars. A curious clause in the contract,
which Ericsson ignored and the Department did not insist upon, in-
dicates how reluctant the naval advisers of the Secretary were to
authorise an entire departure from the method of marine propulsion
which they had grown up to believe was the only reliable one. The
clause referred to required the contractors to "furnish masts, spars,
sails, and rigging of sufficient dimensions to drive the vessel at the
rate of six knots per hour in a fair breeze of wind. ' '

The adoption of the plan proposed by Ericsson was due to a
train of accidental circumstances far more than to any percipience
on the part of th,e board to which it was submitted. After being
promised the contract for the Galena, Mr. C. S. Bushnell called
upon Ericsson in New York for professional advice regarding some
of the details of his plans, and during the interview Ericsson resur-
rected from a rubbish heap in the corner of his office the model that
he had made for the French naval officials in 1854, and exhibited
it as his idea of what an iron-clad should be. Bushnell instantly
perceived the possibilities of the design, but could not induce
Ericsson to submit it to the naval board, the inventor having
already had a surfeit of experiences with the Navy Department in
years gone by. He did succeed, however, in getting Ericsson's
permission to take the model and submit it himself. Knowing that
Secretary Welles, who was his personal friend, was then in Con-
necticut, Mr. Bushnell hastened thither and laid the plan before
him, the Secretary being so impressed with its merits that he urged
Bushnell to take it to Washington immediately, promising that he
would, if necessary, order the board to extend the limit of time
prescribed for the submission of plans.

278 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STAT]

Through influential friends Mr. Bushnell obtai
interview with President Lincoln and so enlisted his
hibiting the model and explaining the simplicity of c
ship it represented that the President voluntarily of]
pany him to the Navy Department the next day. 1
time Mr. Bushnell and the President called on Ass
Fox and exhibited lhe model to him and a number c
including members of the iron-clad board. All wer
the simplicity and novelty of the plan, and some fa
a trial ; others ridiculed it. The following day Coi
convened his board and gave Mr. Bushnell an officii
gentleman quitting the session with a hope that he ]
presented his case; he was doomed to disappointmei
the next morning he found the interest of the previc
gone, and the members of the board indifferent and sk<
commodores told him that they would vote for a trh
if he could get Commander Davis to vote for it, Da'
member of the board being evidently used as the ex
minister the coup die grace to suspected "cranks
officer, when appealed to by Bushnell, grew merry c
garded as the absurdities of the project and told ]
might ' ' take the little thing home and worship it, ;
be idolatry, because it was in the image of nothinj
above or on the earth beneath or in the waters unde

Almost in despair, Mr. Bushnell resolved to pli
by calling in the eloquent voice of Ericsson to exp
vention, a difficult thing to do, for Ericsson had bee
treated by the Navy Department in regard to the P,
had often announced his determination never to se
ington again. Bushnell proceeded to New York an
ing the state of affairs in much brighter colors t
facts warranted, induced Ericsson to go to Washing
before the board. Arriving there, he was coldly r<
formed that his plan had already been rejected; mor
nant, he was about to leave, but a remark dropped

1 Letter from Mr. Bushnell to Hon. Gideon Welles; p
nvim-pVi's T.ifft of John Ericsson. Vol. 1.. t>aere 250

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 279

Smith to the effect that the cause for rejection was lack of stability
excited his professional pride and he launched forth into a most
masterful and eloquent defense of his model, convincing the mem-
bers of the board in short order that he knew more of stability and
ships in general than had ever been dreamed of in their philosophy.
The impression, he made gained him another audience with the
board, the Secretary of the Navy, who had fortunately returned to
Washington, being present on the second occasion; after Ericsson
had charmed everyone in the room with his glowing description of
what his vessel could do, Mr. Welles asked each member of the
board in turn if he approved of a contract being made with Ericsson,
and each in turn gently answered, " Yes, by all means." No more
time was lost; the Secretary told Ericsson that he would be awarded
a contract, and urged him to begin work at once without waiting for
formalities, which he did with such vim that in the few days that
elapsed before the contract was drawn up the keel plates of the
Monitor were put through the rolling mill. Thus by the precar-
ious train of happenings above related did Ericsson's model nar-
rowly escape remaining for an indefinite time in the dusty oblivion
of his workshop.

The name Monitor was given by Ericsson himself to his iron-
clad, his reasons for the selection being thus stated in a letter of
his to Assistant Secretary Fox, dated January 20, 1862:

" Sib: In accordance with your request, I now submit for your
approbation a name for the floating battery at Grreenpoint. The
impregnable and aggressive character of this structure will admonish
the leaders of the Southern Bebellion that the batteries on the banks
of their rivers will no longer present barriers to the entrance of the
Union forces. The iron-clad intruder will thus prove a severe
monitor to those leaders. But there are other leaders who will also
be startled and admonished by the booming of the guns from the
impregnable iron turret. 'Downing Street' will hardly view with
indifference this last ' Yankee notion', this monitor. To the Lords
of the Admiralty the new craft will be a monitor, suggesting doubts
as to the propriety of completing those four steel-clad ships at three
and a half millions apiece. On these and many similar grounds, I
propose to name the new battery Monitor. ' '

280 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Every part of this wonderful vessel was designe
Ericsson, and she was purely and wholly an engineers' sh
free from the trappings and adjuncts pertaining to the s
of the period in which she was built. Hull, machiner
gun carriages, anchor hoists, everything, all were built. f
ing drawings made by Ericsson's own hands. In orde:
the work it was given out by sub-contracts to different
ments: the hull was built by Thomas F. Rowland at the (
Iron "Works, Grreenpoint; the propelling engines and al
machinery by Delamater & Co. , and the turret, built u
layers of one-inch iron plates bolted together, by the N<
Works. Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, TJ. S. Na
sented the Government as the inspector of construction o1
fabric. Within one hundred working days from the laj
keel the Monitor was practically completed and her ei
been operated under steam. As built, her extreme leng

THE ORIGINAL ERICSSON MONITOR.

a. awning, b. pilot house of iron " logs." c. anchor well. d. w
body or raft, armored on sides and deck. e. iron hull or under-bodj

feel; breadth, 41£ feet; depth of hold, 11£ feet; draft of
feet; inside diameter of turret, 20 feet; height of turr
The deck was plated with iron an inch thick, and the sk
upper body, or wooden cover of the iron hull as it may
were protected with five inches of iron armor. Two Xl-i
gren guns were mounted in the turret. The engines were of
vibrating-lever type, with cylinders three feet in diameter a
six inches stroke, driving a propeller nine feet in diamete
While the Monitor was being built, the Navy Depai
Captain Ericsson were liberally ridiculed and abused by
press for what was regarded as a fatuitous waste of publ
and Ericsson himself, in the midst of his overwhelming 1

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATER.

281

constantly to calm the doubts of Commodore Smith, who appears
from his many letters full of foreboding to Ericsson, to have repented
of his approval of this revolutionary design in naval architecture.
In the midst of all this hostility and opposition, Mr. Secretary Welles,
Captain Ericsson, the three gentlemen who became his sureties
(Messrs. C. S. Bushnell, John A. Griswold, and John F. Winslow),
and Chief Engineer Stimers remained steadfast in their faith in the
new departure, and seem to have been about the only persons in-
terested who did not regard the scheme as a crazy dream, doomed
to utter failure. The performance of the Monitor in battle imme-
diately after her completion caused a sudden change in sentiment,
naval and civil, and many who had been loudest in jeering became

5-5

.-fc^g-"^ ~.V~ -r - i' O *

BOILER (2) OP THE MONITOR, 1861.

equally loud in praise, announcing their own prescience. Credit for
the creation of the Monitor belongs largely to Mr. Secretary Welles
for appreciating its possibilities and for his action in influencing the
armor-clad board to approve the original plans; after him, the credit
is probably fairly distributed in his own words as follows:

" To the distinguished inventor of this new-class vessel, to his
sureties, to the board of naval officers who reported in her favor, to
the vigilant and very able naval officer who superintended her con-
struction, the Secretary has, on repeated occasions, tendered his
obligations and his thanks for their patriotic services in coming to
the assistance of the department and the government in a great
emergency. Great praise and commendation are due to them re-

282 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

spectively, but no one can be justified in attempting to
himself undue merit at the expense of others. The Ni
ment, under great embarrassments, was compelled to e
new field in naval warfare, and in this experiment it had
and active and efficient co-operation of Captain John Er
that of the wealthy and deserving gentlemen who aided
velopment of this new class of vessels, which have entei
navy of the United States, and been elsewhere iucorpora
service of other governments. ' ' x

The year 1861 also saw the appearance of iron-clad
the Mississippi Eiver, built by the War Department for
nection with the army. Seven of thse iron-clads were
distinguished engineer of St. Louis, Mr. James B. Ed
contract dated August 7, 1861, and were mostly compl
end of the year. They were 175 feet long, 50 feet beai
propelled by a huge paddle-wheel amidships near the s
ing in an opening 18 feet wide and 60 feet long fore and
parts of the after body of the vessel thus formed being ;
the wheel by a flying deck, known in river parlance as
tail." The wheel was 22 feet in diameter. Almost the ent
covered with a casemate, or superstructure, with sides slo
and upward at an angle of forty-five degrees, enclosing 1
machinery and paddle-wheel. The expectation being t<
on as a rule, the front end of the casemate was plated wi
of iron, backed with twenty inches of oak. The sides
engines and boilers had the same thickness of iron withi
backing, and the remainder of the surface was unprotect
gines were of the usual high-pressure river type, an
boilers, were in constant danger from shot in action, th«
of the boats making it impossible for the machinery to b
low the water line. These Edes gun-boats were named
ondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg
Louis, after towns in the Mississippi valley. They had 1
tal high-pressure steam cylinders, 22 inches in diamete
stroke, and five cylindrical flue boilers, 3 feet in diam
feet long.

1 Senate Ex. Doc, No. 86; 40th Congress, 2d Session.

^i"fl!li!|[il|iP'iIffl!l?W

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 285

Two other steamers — the Essex and Benton — nearly twice as
large as the Edes' boats, were bought and converted into gunboats, the
armor both iron and wood backing, being heavier than that of
the seven contract vessels. A naval officer (Commander John
Eodgers first, and Captain A. EL Foote a few months later) had
general command of this flotilla under the army authorities, and of-
ficers of the regular navy were assigned to the command of the dif-
ferent steamers: the subordinate officers were volunteers, recruited
chiefly from the captains, engineers, mates and pilots of the river,
and the crews were decidedly mixed — soldiers, rivermen, men-of-
war's-men from the East, and sailors from the Great Lakes. The
naval commanders were of necessity junior by relative rank to the
numerous generals and colonels doing duty about them, and this
produced more or less friction, as the army officers had authority to
give orders to the gunboats, or ' ' interfere ' ' with them, as Captain
Foote expressed it. In July, 1862 this unpleasant state of affairs
was done away with by the transferring of the entire river flotilla to
the Navy Department.

CHAPTER XVII.

" Then, like a kraken huge and black.
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp !
Down went the Cumberland all a wrack,

With a sudden shudder of death,

And the cannon's breath
For her dying gasp." — Longfellow.

1862. The Civil War, Continued. Capture of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth Ci1
The Merrimac and her Raid. Destruction of the Congress and Cumbb
land. The Monitor Completed and Commissioned. Her Chief Enginei
Isaac Newton. Voyage of the Monitor from New York and her arrival
Hampton Roads.

AT the beginning of 1862 a large combined military and nav
force under the command of Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborouj
and Brigadier General A. E. Burnside was fitted out at Annapol
for the purpose of entering the Sounds of North Carolina throuj
Hatteras Inlet, and capturing the fortified positions of the enemy <
Roanoke Island, the possession of which would give to the Unic
forces the military command of those waters. This expedition h
passed into history as the "Burnside Expedition," but it might wi
much propriety be designated by Goldsborough's name, ina
much as its character was essentially naval. Owing to the shoalne
of water on the bulkhead at Hatteras Inlet and at many places
the Sounds, vessels of light draft were necessarily used, several
them being armed ferry-boats, and others were purchased tugs, riv
steamers, freight-boats, etc., not one of them having been built f
war purposes. It should be remarked in regard to the ferry-boa
that in spite of their uncouth appearance they were found remarkab
useful for coast and river service, combining light draft with hanc
ness in narrow places, being able to steam and steer equally well
either direction, while the broad overhanging deck furnished :
excellent gun platform on which heavy batteries were habitual
mounted.

Proceeding down Chesapeake Bay, the flotilla assembled
Hampton Roads and sailed thence the 11th of January, being th

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 287

composed of one hundred and twenty-five vessels, about twenty of
which belonged to the navy and the remainder were purchased or
chartered army transports, carrying some twelve thousand soldiers,
with horses, ammunition, provisions, and all the paraphernalia of
war. With much tooting of whistles, waving of flags, and cheering
of soldiers, the expedition moved out towards the Capes of the
Chesapeake, being probably the most motley and piebald aggregation
of craft ever afloat with warlike intent. The enthusiasm of the
soldiers speedily subsided when the Atlantic was reached and the
voyage down the coast was so devoid of pleasure that men who
subsequently became hardened veterans of the Army of the Potomac
now refer to that sea experience with more abhorrence than they
exhibit in recalling the dreadful scenes of Chancellorsville and
Gettysburg.

The fleet arrived off Hatteras January 13, and spent some
two weeks in the very difficult task of working over the shoals inside
the Sounds, the army transports not all getting inside until the 5th
of February. Three of the transports were wrecked and a con-
siderable number of horses, rifles, and ordnance stores were lost.
One of the naval steamers, the Whitehall, was so injured in trying to
get in that she had to return to Hampton Eoads for repairs. As
finally collected inside, the naval force consisted of nineteen vessels
arranged in three divisions, commanded respectively by Lieutenant
Reed "Werden in the Stars and Stripes, Lieutenant A. Murray in the
Louisiana, and Lieutenant H. K. Davenport in the Hetzel. A
number of the army vessels were armed with one or more guns and
were intended for fighting as well as transport purposes ; these,
bearing such names as Picket, Lancer, Huzzar,&c, were formed into
a division under the command of Commander S. F. Hazard, of the
navy. Mr. Chas. H. Haswell, who has figured so prominently in
the earlier chapters of this work, was attached to General Burnside's
staff as fleet engineer, and Lieutenant D. W. Flagler, now brigadier
general and Chief of the Ordnance Department of the army, was
Burnside's chief ordnance officer. Flag Officer Goldsborough's
flagship, the Philadelphia, not being suited for safe handling over
the lumpy and uncertain bottom about Roanoke Island, did not
participate in the ensuing engagement, Goldsborough temporarily
transferring his flag and going, with his fleet captain, Commander
A. L. Case, into action in the armed ferry-boat Southfield.

288 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

February 7th the fleet moved up and engaged the shore batten
and a small squadron of gunboats of the enemy with such good effe
that by midnight Burnside had been able to land over ten thousa]
troops. The next day the attack was begun at daybreak and co
tinued until the middle of the afternoon, when a bold charge of t
military forces gained possession of the enemy's strongest positio
and compelled his surrender. About three thousand Confederat
were made prisoners, the remainder escaping in their gunboats
Elizabeth City near the Albemarle end of the Dismal Swamp cam

The casualties in the fleet were small considering the charact
of the vessels and the severe bombardment they underwent, the tot
loss amounting to seven killed and sixteen wounded. Two of ti
killed were officers — Charles Harris, Master's Mate of the Hetu
and Acting Second Assistant Engineer Stephen Mealius, senior ei
gineer of the Seymour. Mr Mealius was struck in the hip by a 3
pound shot and so injured that he died about a week later, the san
shot killing a coal-heaver at his side. These two were the on
casualties on the Seymour. The unsuitability of the vessels for w
service was shown by the fact that several of them were temporari
disabled during the attack by injuries to their machinery. The cros
head and one of the slides of the engine of the Hunchback were sh
away, and the Commodore Perry was partly crippled by a shot whi
passed between the engine and boiler and destroyed the feed-wat
tank. A shell struck the upper deck of the Ceres and glanci)
downward from a beam in very curious flight passed through t'
lower deck and rolled into one of the ash pits where it explode
hurling fire and grate- bars in all directions.

One episode of the fight brought Chief Engineer Haswell in
enviable prominence for gallantry, the affair being thus related
Frank Leslie's Pictorial History of the War: "During her effoi
to get near the fort, the Ranger got aground, and for a few momer
was in great danger, being a stationary target for the rebel gun
Mr. Charles Haswell, Engineer-in-chief of the fleet, who was
command of the steamer Tempest, at this critical juncture went
the rescue, and taking her hawser, towed the Ranger out .of dang
into deep water again. The act was greatly applauded."

Immediately after the capture of Koanoke Island, Flag Offic
Goldsborough despatched his second in command, Commander

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 289

3. Rowan, with fourteen of the steamers to Elizabeth City to attack
;he Confederate gunboats, all of which had taken refuge there with
;he exception of the Ourlew which had been so badly damaged in the
tight of the 7th that she had been set on fire and destroyed. Feb-
ruary 10th Rowan's squadron attacked the enemy and destroyed all
ais vessels except one, the Ellis, which was captured in good condi-
;ion and converted into a Federal gunboat, performing good service
is such in the waters of the Sounds until her loss by stranding near
the end of the year. At the time of her loss she was under the
command of Lieutenant Wm. B. Cushing, then rising into promi-
nence by virtue of a courage at once heroic and reckless. For
exceptional excellence in the action at Elizabeth City Mr. John
Cahill, second assistant engineer and acting chief of the Underwriter,
was highly commended in the report of his commanding officer,
Lieutenant William N. Jeffers, who praised Mr. Cahill's manage-
ment of the engineer department and also his services in working
the after gun during the fight. The same engagement furnished an
instance of remarkable courage and presence of mind on the part of
John Davis, gunner's mate of the Valley City, who, when the maga-
zine was set on fire by a shell, deliberately sat down in an open
barrel of powder and prevented its ignition until the fire division
came to the rescue.

After the affair at Elizabeth City an expedition consisting of
the Shawslieen, Lockwood, and two or three smaller vessels, all under
the command of Lieutenant Jeffers, was sent to drive the enemy
away from the mouth of the Chesapeake and Albemarle canal and
to block up that water-way. On February 13, after shelling the
position and driving the enemy back half a mile or more, a force of
sailors and engine-room men under Acting Master Graves and
Second Assistant Engineer John L. Lay, acting chief of the Louisiana,
was landed and destroyed the machinery of a large dredging machine,
afterward sinking it and some schooners in the canal, completely
obstructing it. Mr. Lay, who afterward became prominent in the
navy in connection with the torpedo service, was highly commended
in the commanding officer's report for the thorough manner in which
the work had been done.

The story of how the fine frigate Merrimac was lost to the Union
has been told in a former chapter. After gaining possession of the

290 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

Norfolk navy yard the Confederates lost no time in making repa
and reaping the benefit of their enormous prize. Their most va
able booty consisted of the great number of guns, mostly uninjun
and the vast quantities of ordnance and equipment supplies that i
into their hands, but they gave attention also to the ships that 1
been scuttled. The Germantown, Plymouth and Merrimac wi
raised and the first two easily restored to a serviceable conditk
but were not equipped for sea. The failure to attempt to make i
of these two ships may be attributed to the fact that some of i
most able and progressive officers of the old navy had joined ■
Confederacy and these gentlemen, from having studiously obsen
the tendencies of war-ship development, were ready to accept 1
inevitable and admit that the day of the sailing ship of war was ov
They had discerned the growing shadow of coming events and
this regard were far ahead of their naval brethern at the North, -w
did not awake from the spell of old beliefs until the Southerners gs
them a rude and terrible object lesson.

The upper works of the Merrimac had been burned as she sa
but all the lower hull, as well as the machinery, was found in
good condition as could be expected after a month's submersion,
board, consisting of Engineer-in-Chief William P. Williamson, Li
tenant John M. Brooke, and Chief Constructor John L. Porter ^
assembled early in June to determine upon a plan for converting
Merrimac into an iron-clad battery, and a plan was adopted with
any great delay. Lieutenant Brooke was given credit at the time
the newspaper and official reports for having originated the des
adopted, and the question has been a matter of dispute and conl
versy ever since. Constructor Porter claimed the honor and he
doubtedly made the drawings from which the vessel was rec
structed, as that was a duty pertaining to his office, but he mi
have made them without originating them. In Scharf 's Historj
the Confederate States' Navy the matter is gone over at length i
Mr. Porter's claim very fully supported. Chief Engineer Tl
Williamson, U. S. Navy, who is a son of the Confederate Engini
in-Chief, has informed the author that years before the war, when
terest in the Stevens battery had directed the minds of naval me:
the possibilities of iron armor, his father had made drawings of
iron-clad war vessel, and that the reconstructed Merrimac was

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. , 291

;eneral design, an exact reproduction of those plans. "Williamson
leyond doubt submitted his design and Porter developed it, the two
nen as representative ship engineers of the South being jointly en-
itled to the credit of having created the vessel which became the
ype and embodied the ideas of the engineers of the South of what an
.rmored war-ship should be.

The damaged hull of the Merrimac was rebuilt up to the level of
he berth deck and a huge cast iron spur was fitted on the bow about
wo feet below the water-line and projecting eighteen inches beyond
he cutwater. When equipped for service, with coal and stores on
loard, it was designed that the vessel should float with her deck
lightly submerged. On the central part of the deck extending one
Lundred and seventy feet fore and aft and the full width of the
essel athwartship was erected a citadel or casemate, with rounded
mds, the sides sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees and extend-
ng some two feet below the water line along the sides, or eaves, as
he lower edges have appropriately been called. This casemate was
even feet high in the clear, its flat top being covered with a wooden
jrating to let light and air inside, and forming the promenade or
par deck of the ship. The structure was built of pine, twenty inches
n thickness, sheathed with four inches of oak planking and this in
urn with two layers of 2-inch iron bars or plates, these being eight
nches wide and about ten feet long. The first layer of these armor
)ars was put on horizontally like a ship's planking, the other, or
mter course being up and down. Through-bolts, one and three-
sighths inches in diameter secured inside fastened the armor to the
vooden superstructure. The battery mounted in this floating strong-
lold consisted of a VH-inch Brooke rifle pivoted in each of the
•ounded ends and eight guns in broadside, four on each side, six of
he latter being IX-inch Dahlgrens and two 32-pounder Brooke rifles.

The iron-clad approached completion early in March and was
:hristened Virginia, but the name she had borne in the old navy
ituck to her, probably on account of its alliterative affinity with
Monitor, and as the Merrimac she will ever be known. On the 8th
)f March she got under way from the Norfolk navy yard and pro-
:eeded down the Elizabeth River accompanied by the gunboats
Beaufort and Raleigh, mounting one gun each. Her crew of about
hree hundred men was composed mostly of volunteers from the

292 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

troops about Richmond, and because of the crowds of workmen
board until the last minute had not been exercised at their stati(
The engines, which had been a nightmare to the engineers of the
navy, had been thoroughly overhauled under the direction of C
Engineer Williamson, but, with a raw force to manage them, wer
object of apprehension rather than a reliable source of power.
Union force in and about Hampton Roads consisted of the large
gun firigates.'ifocmo&e and Minnesota, sister ships of the original 1
rimac, some small armed tugs, the 50-gun sailing frigates Com
and St. Lawrence, and the 24-gun sloop-of-war Cumberland.
two steam frigates have been described in a former chapter,
were regarded as the climax of all excellence in war-ship const
tion, "yet," as remarked by Professor Soley, "it required but
experience of a single afternoon in Hampton Roads, in the mont
March, 1862, to show that they were antiquated, displaced, su
seded, and that a new era had opened in naval warfare."

' ' The Congress and Cumberland had been lying off New
News for several months. Their ostensible duty was to blocl
the James River; but it is not very clear how a sailing-vesse
anchor could be of any use for this purpose. Most of the old sai
vessels of the navy had by this time been relegated to their pr
place as school-ships, store-ships, and receiving-ships, or had 1
sent to foreign stations where their only duty was to display
flag. Nothing shows more clearly the persistence of old tradil
than the presence of these helpless vessels in so dangerous a ne
borhood. Although the ships themselves were of no value for i
crn warfare, their armament could ill be spared ; and they carriec
tween them over eight hundred officers and men. whose lives 1
exposed to fruitless sacrifice. ' ' 1

The Merrimac emerged from the river about 1 p. m and tu
down towards Newport News where the Congress and Cumber
lay at anchor, already cleared for action. Three Confederate
boats, the Jamestown, Teazer and Patrick Henry (or Yorktown),
afterwards came out of the James River past the Federal batt
at Newport News and took part in the ensuing engagement, rei
ing much aid to the Merrimac. The story of what happened

' Professor J. R. Soley: The Blockade ahd the Cruisers, page 61, chapte

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 293

afternoon has been told so often that no detailed account of it will be
repeated here. As the ram approached the sailing vessels she was
furiously pounded by their broadside fire, but her sloping armor
glanced the shot off like peas; passing the Congress, she deliberately
rammed the Cumberland in the wake of the starboard forechains,
tearing a great hole in her side, in which the cast-iron beak re-
mained, it having been wrenched off in impact, Before reaching the
Cumberland a broadside from that vessel put one or two shells into
the forward gun port of the Merrimac, killing two and wounding five
men,1 but doing no serious damage to the ship itself. The first
lieutenant of the Cumberland, Lieutenant George Upham Morris,
who was in command in the absence of his captain, gallantly refused
to surrender and fought his ship with a heroism not excelled in naval
history, but in vain, for she sank in three-quarters of an hour, carry-
ing down the wounded and many of the crew. The Congress, next
assailed, was run on shore in hope of saving her, but the enemy got
into easy range astern and tore her through and through with shot
and shell, butchering her people without mercy. Unable to make
any resistance, she surrendered, but the army force on shore, not un-
derstanding the situation, fired on the Confederate gunboats that had
gone alongside to remove the prisoners, and drove them off. The
Merrimac then set her on fire with incendiary shot, the survivors of
the crew escaping to the shore in their boats or by swimming. The
Congress burned until far into the night, when she blew up.

Meanwhile the Minnesota had got under way from Hampton
Roads and approached the scene of action, but ran aground when
still more than a mile distant; she was fortunately in such a position
with regard to the deep-water channel that the Merrimac could not
get within effective range of her, but the gunboats Yorktown and
Teazer took comparatively safe positions off her bow and stern and
did her much damage, besides killing three and wounding sixteen of
her men. The Roanoke was unable to move under steam, having
broken her shaft some months previously, and consequently had no
more business in the presence of the enemy than had the sailing fri-
gates. However, her gallant captain, John Marsden, as well as

' William Norris, a member of the Merrimac' s crew; in Southern Magazine
November, 1874.

294 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE TOTTED STATES.

Captain Purviance of the St. Lawrence, felt it to be duty to be in i
tion, even in a forlorn hope, and they made desperate efforts to mc
their vessels from Hampton Roads with the aid of armed tugs, cal
gunboats, to the scene of action. The approach of night and the falli
of the tide defeated the brave endeavors of these two captains, a
their ships consequently did not become a prey to the invulnera'
monster they hoped to destroy.

About 7 p. m. the Merrimac withdrew from action and ancho]
off Sewall's Point, intending to complete her work of destruction
the morning. Her captain, Franklin Buchanan, had been wounc
by a rifle ball from shore; the muzzles of two of her guns had bf
knocked off, and her steaming ability, bad at best, had been consid
ably weakened by the loss of the smoke pipe above the casema
otherwise she was entirely fit for action. Her people were jubili
over their success, and well they might be, for besides winning a s<
fight against great numerical odds they had proved their vessel to
absolutely in control of the situation with no apparent limit to i
range of her conquests. Her performance that afternoon had b(
exactly what we have a right to believe would have resulted had
Demologos, nearly fifty years before, been completed in time to i
counter a fleet of British frigates. The sound of the Merrimac1 s gi
had rung the curtain down forever upon the most picturesque and
mantic mode of sea fighting that the world has ever known: then
forth the march of iron and the engineer would have to be recogni:
as all-important in naval warfare, and the picturesque must yield
fore a homely materialism.

Besides the loss of the Congress and Cumberland, the Fedc
navy suffered severely in men. The official reports show that
Congress lost in killed, wounded and missing one hundred and thii
six men, or nearly one-third of her entire crew. Among her d<
was her gallant commanding officer, Lieutenant Joseph B. Smi
The Cumberland lost one hundred and twenty-one, also about o
third of her crew, which numbered three hundred and seventy-six
ficers and men when the action began. The Minnesota's casualit:
previously mentioned, were nineteen. On the gunboat White)
Third Assistant Engineer Andrew Nesbitt was instantly killed b
fragment of shell from the Merrimac, and another assistant enghi
was wounded in the face in the same manner. Two of her men^

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

killed. The Whitehall was a small New York ferryboat of 323 tons,
purchased and armed in 1861, and has been mentioned before in this
chapter as having been disabled in the Burnside Expedition. Her
career ended the following night, March 9, by destruction by fire
while lying at the wharf at Fortress Munroe, the chief loss involved
being the breeching, tackles, and other gun gear of the Minnesota,
together with a quantity of small arms and equipment, put on board
her for safe keeping the night of the 8th when the destruction of the
Minnesota seemed imminent. All the casualities due to the raid of
the Merrimac, as above enumerated, amount to a total of two hundred
and eighty. The Confederate loss, including casualities on their gun-
boats, was not more than one tenth of this figure.

Ericsson's Monitor was launched January 30, 1862, and by the
middle of February was practically completed, going on a trial trip
the 19th of that month. On this occasion the main engines, the
steering gear, the turret turning mechanism, almost everything in
fact, went wrong or refused to work; natural results of the lack of
adjustment due to hasty construction, and needing only this trial to
show what remedies were required. The newspapers that had in-
dulged in endless jeremiads over " Ericsson's Folly " now redoubled
their attacks and added greatly to the public mistrust of the vessel,
but Ericsson himself and Chief Engineer Stimers maintained their
faith unmoved and, ignoring the opportunities for controversy, pa-
tiently set to work to remedy the defects. February 25, the Monitor
was put in commission under the command of Lieutenant John L.
Worden, U. S. Navy, and on the 4th of March a final and successful
trial trip was run, the guns being satisfactorily tried at this time and
a favorable report regarding the vessel was made by a board of naval
officers. On these trials and while adjusting the machinery Mr. Sti-
mers made it his business to operate personally every piece of mechan-
ism in the ship and to become thoroughly familiar with and master
of every detail of every department, thus gaining knowledge without
which the performance of the Monitor immediately thereafter would
have been impossible and the events of the Civil War materially
changed.

Escaping finally from the onslaughts of the press, the Monitor
faced a new foe by putting to sea on the 6th of March, being con-
voyed by the gunboats Sachem and Currituck and in tow of the steamer

296 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Seth Low, although she used her own steam as well. Two hours af
her departure a telegraphic order arrived for her to proceed direct
Washington and this order was repeated to Captain Marsden at Han
ton Roads. The failure of Worden to receive this order before le
ing New York is referred to by naval historians as little less tl
providential, and so it seems in view of the ensuing events; at i
rate the circumstance adds one more to the list of almost miracul<
chances that united in making the Monitor possible and in shap
her career. The officers who went in her as volunteers for the m<
than hazardous experiment of taking her to sea were, besides Wore
the commander, Lieutenant Samuel Dana Greene; Acting .Mast
John J. N. Webber and Louis N. Stodder ; Acting Assistant Paymas
W. F. Keeler; Acting Assistant Surgeon Daniel C. Logue; First i
sistant Engineer Isaac Newton; Second Assistant Engineer Albert
Campbell, and Third Assistant Engineers R. W. Hands and M.
Sundstrum. The commander, executive officer, and all the engine
were of the regular service and the other officers volunteers. 1
crew consisted of forty -three men who had volunteered from the
ceiving-ship North Carolina and the sailing frigate Sabine. Ch
Engineer Stimers voluntarily went as a passenger to observe the wo:
ing of the novel craft and to give her officers the benefit of his kne
ledge, he being, as stated by W. C. Church in his Life of Jo
Ericsson, ' ' The only man on board who thoroughly understood 1
characteristics of the vessel. ' '

Mr. Isaac Newton, the acting chief engineer of the Monitor, v
a genius in his way who deserves more than passing mention. I
father, also named Isaac Newton, was a prominent North Br
steamboat builder and owner, and young Newton, besides getting
excellent education in the New York city schools, had grown up
his father's steamers and shops, so that by the time he reached in*
hood he was a thorough steamboat captain, pilot, engineer, b<
builder, machinist, and all-around mechanic. In June 1S61,
volunteered for the war and selected the engineer corps of the na
for his place of best service, coming into the navy with letters
commendation from a number of the most prominent men in N
York. His education enabled him to overstep the nominal requi
ments for the volunteer service, and by passing the required exai
nations he obtained an appointment as a first assistant engineer in 1

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 297

regular service. If his experience could have been augmented with
the four or five years of military training so essential to service in the
regular navy he would have been an ideal naval officer for a war-
steamer: as it was, he won a fine reputation for ability as an engineer
and for general usefulness. He resigned at the close of the war and
associated himself with John Ericsson in his disastrous Madawaska-
Wampanoag controversy with Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood; was later
General McClellan's associate in the work of rebuilding the Stevens
battery, and again, having embarked in politics, held the very im-
portant position of chief engineer of the Croton Aqueduct in the Pub-
lic Works Department of the City of New York.

The first twenty-four hours of the voyage of the Monitor from
Sandy Hook were uneventful, light winds and smooth water being
encountered. The wind and sea then rose and the vessel was soon
in great peril. Great quantities of water came in through the hawse
pipes, due to "gross carelessness in going to sea without stopping
them up," as claimed by Ericsson in a paper on the "Building of
the Monitor, ' ' in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. The turret
was designed to slide on a bronze ring let into the deck at its base,
this joint not being water tight nor intended to be, pumps being
provided to remove the small quantity of water that would come in
through this necessary crack. Before leaving New York, however,
some "expert" at the navy yard, accustomed to the manifold uses
of rope on shipboard, had caused the turret to be wedged up and
had driven into the wide opening thus formed a plaited hemp gas-
ket, the result being that when the sea began to break violently over
the deck this gasket was washed out and water poured in cascades
down the whole annular space sixty-three feet in circumference. The
smoke pipes and blower supply pipes, were simply temporary trunks
intended to be removed in action, projecting only about six feet
above the deck, over which the seas broke and interrupted the action
of the furnaces very seriously.

From getting wet, the belts of the blowers would not cling and
the engine and fire-rooms soon became charged with poisonous gases
to such an extent that life below became almost impossible. Messrs.
Newton and Stimers, with the help of their assistants, struggled
bravely to get the blowers in operation and kept at this task until
they succumbed to the gas and were carried to the top of the turret,

298 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

where they revived, though they were thought dead when dragg
out of the engine room. Lieutenant Greene, the executive officer,
few days latter gave an account of the Monitor'- 's experience in a letl
written to his mother, which is regarded as the most graphic nan
tive of the event in existence, and which has been twice published
the United Service Magazine (In April, 1885 and October, 189!
in which he speaks of this incident as follows: " Our engineers \
haved like heroes, every one of them. They fought with the gi
endeavoring to get the blowers to work, until they dropped appi
ently dead. ' ' In the meantime the fires had become so low from wai
and loss of air that the pumps stopped and loss by foundering becai
imminent. The tug was directed to steer shoreward and after fc
or five hours of constant peril smoother water was reached, t
machinery started again, water pumped out, and danger for the til
averted. It was then evening of the 7th, and for a time safe pi
gress was made, but soon after midnight danger once more appear
as thus described by Lieutenant Greene in the letter to his mother

" We were just passing a shoal, and the sea suddenly becai
rough and right ahead. It came up with tremendous force through c
anchor-well, and forced the air through our hawse-pipe where t
chain comes, and then the water would rush through in a perft
stream, clear to our berth deck, over the wardroom table. T
noise resembled the death-groans of twenty men, and was the mi
dismal, awful sound I have ever heard. Of course the captain a
myself were on our feet in a moment, and endeavored to stop 1
hawse-pipe. We suceeded partially, but now the water began
come down our blowers again, and we feared the same accident t]
happened in the afternoon. We tried to hail the tug-boat, but 1
wind being dead ahead they could not hear us, and we had no v.
of signaling them, as the steam- whistle which father had recommenc
had not been put on.

"We began then to think the ' Monitor ' would never see di
light. We watched carefully every drop of water that went do
the blowers, and sent continually to ask the fireman how they w<
going. His only answer was ' Slowly,' but could not be kept goi
much longer' unless the water could be kept from coming do-v
The sea was washing completely over the decks, and it was dang

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 299

ous for a man to go on them, so we could do nothing to the blowers.
In the midst of all this our wheel-ropes jumped off the steering
wheel (owing to the pitching of the ship), and became jammed. She
now began to sheer about at an awful rate, and we thought our haw-
ser would certainly part. Fortunately it was new, and held on well.
In the course of half an hour we freed our wheel-ropes, and now the
blowers were the only difficulty. About three o'clock Saturday A.
M. the sea became a little smoother, though still rough, and going
down our blowers somewhat."

By 8 o'clock the next morning smooth water was again found
and the Monitor slowly and wearily pursued her voyage, entering the
Capes of the Chesapeake about 4 p. m. Here they heard the sound
of shotted guns, for the Merrimac was at that moment in the midst
of her carnival of destruction, and the worn-out crew infused with
new life cleared their novel and untried craft for action. A pilot-
boat coming out told them of what was going on at Newport News
but the tale of big frigates being helpless in the presence of any
known form of enemy was so improbable that it was not believed
until night came on and the .pitiful spectacle of the doomed Congress
loomed up in lines of fire against the dark sky. About 9 p. m. the
Monitor anchored in Hampton Roads and Worden reported in person
to Captain Marsden on the Hoanoke.

In view of the events of the day it was decided without hesita-
tion to disregard the order of the Department to send the Monitor
direct to Washington, the occasion for which she was built being
nearer at hand. The programme of the enemy for the morning so
obviously would begin with an attack upon the grounded Minnesota
that Worden was ordered to go up to Newport News to protect that
vessel if he could, so the Monitor got under way again and about 2
a. m. came to anchor near the distressed frigate, her wearied crew
spending the rest of the night in repairing damages wrought by the
sea and in making ready for the struggle that they knew would come
with the morning.

The stage settings were now complete; the curtain had fallen
just before upon the last of a long series of glorious deeds performed
under a slowly-fading system of seamanship that had many years be-
fore reached its culmination, and a new order of seamanship with a
new type of sea warrior was about to appear upon the stage. The

300 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

engineer's machine of John Ericsson was to face the fabric that rej
resented the engineering ingenuity of the South, and the telegraph]
tidings of their encounter would inflict an inconsolable fright upo
the old romance of the sea, and in an hour reduce the masted navie
of the world to mere collections of picturesque and useless relics.

CHAPTEE XVIII.

' ' The old must fall, and time itself must change,
And thus new life shall blossom from the ruins."

Schiller.

1862— The Civil War, Continued— First Fight of Iron-Clads— Effects of the
Battle — Extraordinary Services Eendered by Chief Engineer Stimers —
Attack on Drury's Bluff— The Galena Badly Injured — Gallantry of As-
sistant Engineer J. W. Thomson.

THE morning of Sunday, March 9, dawned upon a peaceful scene
in Hampton Roads. The Roanoke and St. Lawrence were lying
at anchor near Fortress Monroe; the Minnesota, still aground off New-
port News, overshadowed with her great hull the Monitor lying beside
her, and off Sewall's Point, black and ominously still, was the Mer-
rimac. The topmasts of the Cumberland sticking out of the water and
blackened wreckage about the spot where the Congress burned were
the only signs that anything unusual had happened or was likely
to happen. Soon after daylight, volumes of black smoke appeared
over the Merrimac, rising and spreading in the quiet morning air into
a cloud that must have seemed a veritable embodiment of the Shadow
of Death to the men in the Federal ships.

About 8 a. m. the Merrimac got under way and proceeded slowly
up towards the Eip Eaps in order to swing into the channel whence
she could assail the Minnesota. Captain Buchanan's wound of the day
before had proved so serious that he had been obliged to give up his
command to the first lieutenant, Catesby Ap E. Jones, who was now
taking the ship into action. Lieutenant Jones, upon whom the re-
sponsibility for the day's work rested, was about forty years of age
and was a thoroughly trained naval officer, having seen twenty-five
years' service in the old navy in the grades from midshipman to lieu-
tenant. One cannot resist the temptation to pause a moment and
speculate upon the possibilities that must have arisen before the men-
tal vision of this young and ambitious officer as he moved his destroy-
ing machine slowly up to the place for action. The events of the day
before left no doubt as to the outcome of the combat he was about to

302 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

precipitate, and looking beyond his actual surroundings his mind
eye saw the cities of the North laid under ransom by his guns; tl
national capitol abandoned; the sovereignty of the South acknow
edged; the war ended, and himself its central naval figure: hewou]
be the admiral of the Southern navy; perhaps the president of the ne
nation of the South. It was indeed an hour of vast possibilities f(
him.

Turning leisurely down the main ship-channel the Merrimc
headed for the Minnesota and opened fire when still a mile distan'
the first shot striking the counter near the water line but doing no s«
rious damage. Whatever dreams of conquest Lieutenant Jones ma
have indulged in earlier in the morning he was now giving all his al
tention to the material scene about him, and as he looked away t
where the Minnesota lay stranded to see the effect of his shot, his ey
fell on an unfamiliar object. The Monitor had moved out from be
hind the big frigate and was coming unflinchingly across the stretc
of water to meet him. This movement of the Monitor excited the ad
miration of Captain Van Brunt of the Minnesota, who said in his offi
cial report that she ran " right within range of the Merrimac com
pletely covering my ship as far as was possible with her diminutiv
dimensions, and much to my astonishment laid herself right along
side of the Merrimac, and the contrast was that of a pigmy to a giant. '

On board the Monitor every preparation for battle had bee:
made, but the officers and men were kept up by nervous excitemer
rather than by physical strength; almost without exception they ha
been without sleep for more than forty-eight hours, and on account c
lack of facilities for cooking had had no proper food to sustain them
Worden had left a sick bed to go on board at New York and had sui
fered much on the voyage down. Newton, who had been at thepoir
of death when dragged out of the engine-room on the occasion of th
stoppage of the blowers, was confined to his bed and reported as be
ing unable to do duty for at least a week; when the call to arms sounded
however, he got up and performed his part in the fight courageousl
and well. There was scarcely a man in the ship who would not hav
been in a condition of physical prostration had it not been for the ex
citement due to the presence of the enemy.

Worden took his station in the pilot house, Greene with sixteen me
in charge of the guns in the turret, Stodder at the turret turning gea

CHIEF ENGINEER ALBAN C. STIMERS, U. S. NAVV.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 305

and "Webber had the small powder division on the berth deck. Stodder
was disabled early in the action by the concussion of a shot striking the
turret when he was touching it and Stimers took his place, he having
volunteered at the beginning of the fight to go in the turret and show
the people how to operate it. The pilot house,built log cabin fashion of
iron beams or billets, 9 inches by 12 inches, with the corners dovetailed
and bolted together, was far forward on deck with no means of com-
, municating with the turret except by a speaking tube; this became
disconnected soon after the fight began and communication between
Worden and Greene then had to be maintained by passing the word
along the berth deck, Paymaster Keeler and the captain's clerk doing
this important service. The great error of separating the captain
from the battery was remedied in the later monitors by simply plac-
ing the pilot-house on top of the turret, engineer Isaac Newton hav-
ing suggested this arrangement immediately after the fight. As an
offset to the wearied condition of the Monitor's men, the Merrimac
was far from being in perfect fighting trim. Two of her guns were
disabled by the loss of their muzzles, her ram had been wrenched off,
and the upper part of the smoke-pipe was shot away. This last was
her greatest injury for it so impaired the furnace draft that steam
could not be maintained at anything like a proper working pressure,
and her motions were consequently extremely sluggish. Speed is a
word hardly applicable to either the Monitor or Merrimac, but by rea-
son of the damage to the latter the great advantage of quicker move-
ment rested with the Monitor.

The first shot fired at the Monitor missed her and the Confeder-
ates realized that they no longer had the big hull of a frigate for a
target. Further enlightenment regarding the altered status of their
antagonists came quickly in the furious impact of the heavy Xl-inch
solid shot of the Monitor against their casemate, knocking men down
and leaving them dazed and bleeding at the nose, ears and mouth.
It will be needless to repeat the circumstantial account of the com-
bat, which has been told so carefully by so many writers. Neither
vessel could penetrate the armor of the other, which prevented the
question of their supremacy being definitely settled and left it open
to dispute ever since. Each at different stages of the fight tried ram-
ming, the Monitor with the most success as she struck her enemy
fairly enough near the stem, having aimed to injure the propeller,

306 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

but on account of the smoke and other obstacles to exact steerinj
missed the vital spot by about three feet only. The Merrimac's at
tempt resulted in a harmless glancing blow, the superior speed of th
Monitor making it an easy matter to elude her antagonist.

After about an hour of fighting, the Merrimac tried to give the Monito
up as a bad task and turned her attention again to the Minnesota, tin
first shell fired at the frigate passing " through the chief engineer 'i
state-room, through the engineers' mess-room, amidships, and burs
in the boatswain's room, tearing four rooms into one in its passage
and exploding two charges of powder, which set the ship on fire." :
The second shell exploded the boiler of tug-boat Dragon lying along
side the Minnesota, and by the time the third shell was thrown th
Monitor, not disposed to be ignored, had again interposed betweei
the Minnesota and her assailant and thereafter she engrossed the en
tire attention of the enemy. Shortly after this diversion the ammu
nition in the Monitor' 's turret became exhausted and she had to go oui
of action to replenish it, the scuttle by which it was passed being im-
possible to use except when the turret was stationary and in a certair
position. This circumstance greatly encouraged the Confederates
who believed their opponent to be disabled from their fire, but in i
quarter of an hour their hopes were dispelled by the Monitor resum-
ing the fight more vigorously than ever.

Soon after 11 a. m. Lieutenant Worden, while looking througl
a sight-hole in the pilot-house, was disabled by a shell striking and
exploding immediately in front of his eyes, he being temporarily
blinded and his face terribly burned and cut by the flying grains oi
powder and bits of iron. The steersman was stunned for a fe-w
minutes by the concussion also and in that short space of time the
Monitor without anyone in control of her ran off aimlessly towards
shoal water away from the fight, for no one had signalled the
engine-room to stop. This gave such an appearance of defeat thai
on the Minnesota all hope was abandoned and every preparatior
made for setting the ship on fire and abandoning her. In a shorl
time, however, Lieutenant Greene learned of the casualty in the
pilot-house and, leaving Stimers in charge of the guns, took com-
mand of the ship and turned upon his foe again. Then to the

1 Official report of Captain Van Brunt of the Minnesota.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 307

amazement of all the Merrimac suddenly gave up the fight and
steamed away toward Norfolk. Oatesby Jones reported afterward
as a reason for withdrawing at this time that he believed the Monitor
disabled and he was very desirous of crossing the Elizabeth River
bar before ebb tide. There was no reason for believing the Monitor
out of action and every reason for believing the contrary, for when
she returned under the command of Greene, Stimers fired two or
three shots against the Merrimac, which were the last guns of the
encounter. Had the Confederates believed in their success to the
extent of demanding the surrender of the Monitor, Greene could
and very probably would have replied in the words used long before
by John Paul Jones under similar circumstances — "We have not
yet begun to fight. ' '

Lieutenant Greene did not follow the retreating enemy, the
orders under which the Monitor fought limiting her action to a de-
fense of the Federal ships, the Minnesota especially. Greene was
very young at the time and inexperienced in judging of the amount
of discretion allowed a commanding officer in obeying orders in
battle, so it was with many misgivings that he allowed the Merri-
mac to go unmolested while he returned to the side of the Minne-
sota, but the superior officers of both army and navy present
sustained his action and assured him that he had done exactly the
right thing. Curious as it appears, many able writers have in-
dulged in much argument to prove which of the two iron-clads won
the fight. The Merrimac won a most decided victory in her attack
upon the wooden sailing vessels the first day of her appearance,
but when all argument regarding the second day's fight is ex-
hausted a few very pertinent facts remain undisturbed. When the
Merrimac got up steam in the morning it was obviously for no other
purpose than to destroy the Federal vessels in Hampton Roads, and
she did not destroy anything. When the day was done she was
not even in Hampton Roads herself. The Monitor was ordered to
protect the wooden ships, and she protected them. When night
came she was still on guard over them, grim, ugly, and ready to
fight.

The Monitor was struck twenty-one times in the action and
fired forty-one Xl-inch solid shot. The most damaging blow she
received was from the shell which disabled Worden, this having

308 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

cracked one of the heavy iron logs of the pilot-house entir
through and forced the fractured ends inboard an inch and a hi
besides knocking the loose cover of the pilot-house half off. T
deepest indentation in her turret was two inches and the deep
score on her deck was only one-half inch. Two people in
turret were disabled by concussion and Chief Engineer Stimers i
hurt in the same way, but his injuries were slight and he plucl
continued in the fight to the end. The Merrimac was struck nine
seven times in the two days' fight, twenty of her shot marks be:
from the guns of the Monitor. Six plates of her outer layer
iron were penetrated but the inner layer was not broken. The ]
inch guns of the Monitor were new and large for their time and •
Bureau of Ordnance was suspicious of them, having issued ord
not to use more than fifteen pounds of powder for their charj
otherwise their shot would probably have broken into the casern
of the Merrimac. At a later period greater confidence regardi
these guns was entertained and thirty, and even fifty pounds
powder were safely used in charging them. Engineer Isaac N«
ton, who was very level-headed about such matters, testified bef
the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War that
believed the failure of the Monitor to destroy her antagonist \
due entirely to the low powder charges prescribed. He also t<
ified to his belief that, "But for the injury received by Lieuten
Worden, that vigorous officer would very likely have badgered
Merrimac to a surrender." The Merrimac having been hasi
equipped and not expecting to meet any but wooden ships 1
nothing but shell on board; had she been provided with solid s
the effect upon the Monitor might have been different.

The success of the Monitor completely changed the aspeci
the opening military operations of the year and raised the Nc
from a depth of apprehension to a pinnacle of hope and jubilati
No single event of the Civil War so thoroughly aroused the entli
iastic admiration of the loyal North as did this Sunday duel
Hampton Koads, and the Monitor and her crew be'came the gi
and almost only subject for public discussion and applause. r
world is prone to sing the praises of the warrior who destroys,
to neglect the honors due to him who makes the soldier's suc<
possible by providing him with his armor and his weapons, bu

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 309

this case the patient toiler reaped the greater glory, and the name
and fame of John Ericsson went to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Worden, Greene, Stimers and Newton were all heroes in the public
estimation and saw their pictures and the story of their deeds in the
public prints for many a day, but all the applause showered upon
them was little compared to the perfect avalanche of honors heaped
upon Ericsson the Engineer. The reason for this unusual sentiment
is easily found. Ericsson had been for several months held up to
ridicule and abuse to such an extent by the press that he and his
work were known to all men, and when his hour of triumph came,
that innate sense of sympathy for the ' ' under dog " in a fight mani-
fested itself joyously at seeing him suddenly and unexpectedly come
uppermost. Ericsson's enemies had so overdone the matter of per-
secution that in the end he owed much of his fame tb their acts.

Abroad, the news of the battle created a profound sensation and
more than one naval power whose commercial interests or thirst for
foreign conquest had led to the point of seriously preparing to assail
the American Republic in the day of its distress, now paused to
take a sober second thought and ultimately concluded to check their
designs. ' ' Probably no naval conflict in the history of the world
ever attracted as much attention as did the battle in Hampton
Roads, between the Monitor and the Merrimac. It revolutionized
the navies of the world, and showed that the wooden ships, which
had long held control of the ocean, were of no further use for fight-
ing purposes. Commenting upon the news of that event, the Lon-
don Tvm.es said: ' Whereas we had available for immediate pur-
poses one hundred and forty-nine first-class war-ships, we have now
two, these two being the Warrior and her sister Ironside. There
is not now a ship in the English navy, apart from these two, that it
would not be madness to trust to an engagement with that little
Monitor. ' England and all other maritime powers immediately pro-
ceeded to reconstruct their navies, and the old fashioned three and
four-decker line-of-battle ships were condemned as useless. Not
only in ships, but in their armament, there was rapid progress, and
so great has been the advance in marine artillery that the Monitors
of 1862, and the subsequent years of the American war, would be
unable to resist the shot from the guns of 1880-'87. ni

1 Thomas W. Knox; — Decisive Battles since Waterloo.

310 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

On March 28, by joint resolution, Congress passed a vot
thanks to Ericsson for his "enterprise, skill, energy, and forecj
in the design and construction of the Monitor, and he was the
cipient of similar honors from the Legislature of the State of '.
York and from innumerable civil organizations and socie
Lieutenant Worden was tendered the thanks of Congress by a rei
tion approved July 11, 1862, and in the following February
given more substantial recognition for his great service by a se
resolution authorizing his advancement one grade, that is, to
rank of captain, he having been promoted to commander in
meantime. Ericsson steadily maintained that Stimers and
Worden was the real hero of the Monitor, because he alone o:
on board knew how to operate the various mechanisms of
vessel, without . which knowledge she would have been ut
useless in the face of the enemy. At a banquet given him bj
New York Chamber of Commerce Ericsson made a point of as
ing in his speech that he regarded the success of the Monito
' ' entirely owing to the presence of a master-mind (Mr. Stimei
a belief which he defended at length and with an indisputable i
of facts.

This public laudation of Stimers, not confined by any mea:
Ericsson, greatly disturbed Lieutenant Worden and his friends.
Worden, as late as two years after the fight, waited upon
Griswold, a Member of Congress and a friend of Ericsson, hs
been one of his sureties in the enterprise of building the .,
itor, to complain of the fancied injustice done him by Eric
Of this interview Mr. Griswold wrote to Ericsson: " I
just had a call from Captain Worden. He thinks you did
injustice in your Chamber of Commerce remarks for the sal
complimenting Stimers, and says the ' master-spirit ' had nothi:
all to do with the affairs of the Merrimac, was not consulted,
was in no special way tributary to the result of that combat. ' '
spite of this assertion, the great weight of testimony goes to
that Stimers was consulted and was in a special way "tribut:
to the result of the action. Assistant Secretary of the Navy
who saw the fight, telegraphed the Navy Department as soon i

1 W. C. Church;— Life of John Ericsson, Vol. I, p. 298.

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 313

could learn particulars that "Lieutenant Worden, who com-
manded the Monitor, handled her with great skill, and was assisted
by Chief Engineer Stimers." He could have had no other object
in mentioning Stimers' name, to the exclusion of the other
officers, in this message except the wish to have the Department
understand who, next to "Worden, deserved credit for the victory of
the Monitor.

Lieutenant Greene in the letter to his mother before quoted
from in these pages, and which for obvious reasons is more apt to
reveal unvarnished facts than a formal official report that would
become a public document, says in regard to the officers' stations
for battle : "Acting Master Stodder was at the wheel which turns
the tower, hut as he could not manage it, he was relieved by
Stimers." The italics are the author's.

Mr. W. C. Church, who cannot be accused of partiality for
Mr. Stimers, says in his Life of John Ericsson: "During the pass-
age from New York, the working gear of the turret was permitted
to rust for want of proper cleaning and oiling, and it worked with
so much difficulty during the engagement with the Merrimac that,
but for the energy and determination of Engineer Stimers, it might
not have revolved at all."

Proofs like the above may be multiplied, but these are suffi-
cient for every logical purpose. The writer has no desire to
magnify the services of Mr. Stimers, especially as it will become a
duty as this history progresses to narrate certain mistakes of that
officer whereby the naval engineer corps suffered the most serious
reflection upon its professional competence that it has ever experi-
enced, but from an impartial review of all the facts connected with
the Monitor- Merrimac battle the conclusion is plain that Chief
Engineer Alban C. Stimers was the one person on board the Mon-
itor who thoroughly knew how to use that vessel and her weapons,
and but for his presence the result of the combat would in all
probability have been very different, and most disastrous to the
Monitor, to the reputation of Lieutenant Worden, and to the cause
of the Union.

The day after the fight of the iron-clads, the Minnesota was
floated and soon restored to serviceable condition. Immediately
thereafter the Union fleet in Hampton Koads began receiving addi-

314 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

tions almost daily, for the naval occupation of this position wai
important element in the grand campaign against Richmond the
movement by the Army of the Potomac. The Merrimac ret
to Norfolk where she was docked by Constructor Porter, her pla
repaired and strengthened, and a new spur fitted to her bow.
rough-and-ready old commodore, Josiah Tatnall, was placed in c
mand and great things were expected. On two occasions — A
11 and May 8 — she went into Hampton Roads and looked at
Monitor and the Federal fleet, but no fight occurred at either ti
From the reports of the Federal commander-in-chief, Goldsboroi
and of Tatnall it appears that each party earnestly desired a con
and that the other was afraid, or at least avoided hostilities.

Military operations compelled the surrender of Norfolk to
Union forces on the 10th of May, and Tatnall endeavored to i
the Merrvmac by taking her up the James river, but finding he
draw several feet too much water for the river he reluctantly set
on fire and abandoned her. Early on the morning of May 11
fire reached her magazine and she blew up. This event occasic
such a wild outburst of public grief in Richmond that for a tin
was feared the governmental departments of the Confederacy w
be attacked by a mob. The Merrimac had been proudly called
' ' iron diadem of the South, ' ' and had been so confidently re
upon for the defense of the James River that after her destruc
serious thoughts of surrendering Richmond were entertained,
men of the Merrimac were utilized to man a battery up the rive
Drury's Bluff, where a few days later they again encountered I
old foes of the Monitor.

Immediately after the destruction of the Merrimac, FlagOi
Goldsborough took possession of the lower part of James li
with his flagship, the /Susquehanna, and a number of smaller ves
sending Commander John Rodgers with the Galena, Monitor, A
took and Port Boyal on an expedition up the river. The Ga
had just come from the builders' works at Mystic, Conn., and
be recalled as the iron-clad gunboat built in accordance with th
port of the board on armored vessels of the previous year.
Monitor was now commanded by Lieutenant William N. Jei
The Aroostook was one of the ninety-day gunboats and the
Royal was one of the first lot of double-enders. Accompan

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 315

them was the vessel fitted out by the Stevens brothers to demon-
strate the excellence of their system of protective armor, this vessel
being referred to indiscriminately in the official reports as the Ncm-
gatuok and the "U. S. revenue steamer E. A. Stevens-" she was
commanded by a revenue marine lieutenant named D. C. Con-
stable.

The morning of May 15 this squadron came up to Ward's, or
Drury's Bluff, eight miles below Eichmond, where the river was
found obstructed with piles and sunken vessels and defended by a
heavy battery mounted about two hundred feet above the water.
The Galena and Monitor anchored about six hundred yards from the
battery and the unarmored vessels about twice that distance, all
opening fire upon the enemy's works. The Monitor soon had to re-
move to a greater distance on account of being unable to elevate her
guns sufficiently. She was struck only three times during the attack
and had'no casualities. The 100-pounder Parrott gun of the Nau-
gatuek burst early in the action and disabled that vessel as it was the
only gun she had, the accident resulting eventually in the discour-
agement of the efforts of the Stevens brothers to induce the govern-
ment to accept their unfinished battery.

The Galena, at anchor and with her broadside sprung towards the
enemy's battery, proved a fine target and was very roughly used by
the plunging shot from the bluff, which struck her sloping side
armor almost at right angles. In the plain words of her commander,
John Eodgers, "We demonstrated that she is not shot proof."
Thirteen shot penetrated the side armor, several coming clear through
and doing great damage to the crew by scattering splinters and frag-
ments of the iron plating, while others stuck in the wooden backing
after passing through the plating. One shell made a clean passage
through the side and exploded in the steerage, setting the ship on
fire. The spar deck was badly splintered and broken through in
some places. All along the port side, which was the one exposed,
knees, planks, bulkheads, and beams were splintered and started
out of place. Although exposed to this terrible riddling, Commander
Eodgers kept his ship in action for more than three hours and only
withdrew when his ammunition was nearly expended. The Galena
had thirteen men killed and eleven wounded; the Naugatuch, two
wounded, and the Port Royal had her commander, George Morris,
wounded.

316 ] THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The following extracts from the official report of Comm
Rodgers of the Galena refer to meritorious services performi
members of the engineer department of that vessel:

"Mr. J. W. Thomson, first assistant engineer, coolly re]
some of the valve gear which broke down, under fire, and und
direction a fire in the steerage, caused by an exploding shel'
extinguished before the regular firemen reached the place."

' ' Mr. T. T. Millholland, third assistant engineer, in char
the steam fire department, was active and efficient; as a i
shooter he did good service. ' '

" Charles Keny on, fireman, was conspicuous for persistent
age in extracting a priming wire, which had become bent and
in the bow gun, and in returning to work the piece after .his
severely burnt, had been roughly dressed by himself with c
waste and oil."

The Wachusett being at City Point in the James River the
of May, it was represented to her captain that there were no j
cians in the town and that some of the people, mostly womei
children, were in great need of medical attendance. The em
lines were believed to be about eight miles from the town, so
was apparently no danger in answering this appeal. Assistanl
geon G. D. Slocum volunteered to go on shore and minister t
distressed people if some of his shipmates would go with him, h
caring to be entirely alone in an enemy's town, and Assistant
master L. S. Stockwell, Chief Engineer Charles H. Baker, and
tenant DeFord of the army signal corps agreed to accompany
On shore, while visiting the sick, a detachment of Confederate
airy suddenly appeared and made prisoners of the officers and t
the boat's crew with them, carrying them off to Petersburg,
that place the commander of the district, General Huger, apolo
to them for the stupidity of his men and said he would have
released, as they had been captured while rendering humane a
citizens of Virginia, and, furthermore, were unarmed with the e
tion of side arms when taken.

The Richmond authorities refused to release the prisone:
General Huger's recommendation and they were accordingly

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 317

to a military prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, and confined in
that place. The peculiar action of the Eichmond government in
this case -was due to the fact that there was talk at the North of treat-
ing some Confederate officers captured on privateers as pirates, and
the Southerners wished to hold some Federal naval officers as hos-
tages to insure their own officers being treated as prisoners of war.
After a detention of twelve weeks in Salisbury, Mr. Baker and some
of the others were transferred to Libby prison in Richmond, and
about a week later were allowed to enter the Union lines on parole.
On the 24th of September Chief Engineer Baker was exchanged for
a Confederate army captain and resumed duty under his own flag.

CHAPTER XIX.

" He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgement-seat ;
Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him ; be jubilant, my feet ;
Our God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe — Battle-Hymn of the Bepu

1862— The Civil War, Continued — Naval Operations in the Mississippi River
— Battles Below New Orleans — Catastrophe to the Mound City — Attack
on Vicksburg — Warfare on the Atlantic Coast — Wreck of the Addion-
dack — Loss of the Monitor — Peril of the Passaic — Heroism of Assistant
Engineer H. W. Robie.

AS soon as a sufficient number of iron-clad steamers in the Mis
f~\ sippi were completed, Commodore Foote hastened to make
of them, the first hostile movement being an attack upon Fort Hei
which was captured Februry 6th after a closely contested actioi
little more than one hour. The attacking force consisted of the ii
clads Benton, (Foote's flagship); Essex, Carondelet, and St. Louis,
the wooden gunboats Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington. The att
was planned as a joint army and navy enterprise by General TJ.
Grant and Commodore Foote, but owing to the wretched condii
of the roads the army was delayed and consequently did not si
in the honor of the capture, the fort having surrendered to the m
force. From Fort Henry, Foote moved with his flotilla to I
Donelson, which place he attacked February 14th. Here he
with much more vigorous opposition than had been experience!
Fort Henry, and in the course of an hour and a half two of his i
sels were temporarily disabled, and the attack was discontinued
the night. The next morning, upon resuming the bombardm<
the enemy was found considerably demoralized and after a fe<
resistance surrendered.

A naval movement on a far greater scale was already on fi
having for its object the opening of the Mississippi River fron
mouth. Captain David G. Farragut was selected for the comm
of this expedition and in his flagship, the Hartford, arrived on
20th of February oft the mouth of the great river where he wai

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

319

make his name famous. The vessels ordered to this station assem-
bled one by one at the Southwest Pass and the entire month of
March was consumed in the task of getting the heavier ships into
the deep water of the river inside, which labor was finally accom-
plished with the exception of the Colorado, which vessel could not be
lightened enough to make her entrance possible. Her commander
and a large number of her officers and men went as volunteers in
other ships of the fleet. As finally assembled in the river at Pilot
Town the fleet proper consisted of seventeen vessels of the classes
and armament exhibited in the table following. The Varv/na was a
merchant steamer purchased in 1861 for $135,000, but all the others
will be recognized as being regularly built war- vessels and all, with
the exception of the Mississippi, of a type then modern.

NAME.

TONS.

GUNS.

COMMANDING OFFICER,

CHIEF ENGINEEB.

Screw Sloops

Hartford

Richmond....

1990

2158
2070
1929
1032
1300
1016

23
22
24

9
10

Capt. D. G. Farragut.1
Capt. H. H. Bell.4
Capt. H. W. Morris.8
Capt. T. T. Craven.
Com. James Al'den.
Com. S. P. Lee.
Com. Chas. S. Boggs.
Com. John DeCamp.

Chief Engr. J. B. Kimball.

Chief Eng. S. D. Hibbert.
Chief Eng. Wm. B. Brooks.
Chief Eng. John W. Moore.
Chief Eng. F. C. Dade.
Act. 1st. A. Eng. R. Henry.
1st Asst. Eng. John H. Long.

Varnna

Iroquois

Side Wheel.

Mississippi ..

1692

Com. M. Smith.

Chief Eng. E. Lawton.

Ninety-day
gunboats

507
507
507
507
507
507
507
507
507

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

Lieut. N. B. Harrison.
Lieut. C. H. B. Caldwell.
Lieut. Geo. H. Preble.
Lieut. J. H. Eussell.
Lieut. G. M. Ransom.
Lieut. Pierce Crosby.
Lieut. E. Donaldson.
Lieut. E. T. Nichols.
Lieut. A. N. Smith.

2d. Asst. Eng. G. W. Rodgers.
2d. Asst. Eng. J. H. Morrison.
2d. As. Eng. T. M. Dukehart.
2d. As. Eng. Henry W. Fitch.
2d. As. Eng. S. W. Cragg.
1st As. Eng. John Johnson.
2d. A. Eng. Chas. E. Devalin.
2d. A. Eng, Jas. P. Sprague.
2d. A. Eng. T. S. Cunningham.

Katahdin. ...

Wissahickon

1 Flag Officer, commanding fleet.

" Fleet-Captain. Commander Richard Wainwright actually commanded the
Hartford during the ensuing operations.

3 Owing to Captain Morris' defective eyesight, the executive officer, Lieutenant
F. A. Roe, was in praotical charge of this ship.

320 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

In addition to this force there was also a flotilla of ta
schooners under the command of Commander David D. Porter,
schooner mounting one XHI-inch mortar. These vessels were m
commanded by their former captains, who had entered the nava'
vice as acting masters and were excellent examples of that large
courageous class of practical seamen who contributed so large
the success of the naval arms during the rebellion. Their chan
and services were well understood by Porter, who thus refe
them in a report written by him in July, 1862:

"Again, sir, I have to mention favorably the divisional offii
and the acting masters commanding mortar vessels. Anchort
all times in a position selected by myself, more with regard tc
object to be accomplished than to any one's comfort or sal
knowing that they will have to stay there without a chance of
ting away till I think proper to remove them, (no matter how t
the shot and shell may fly) there has always existed a rivalry :
who shall have the post of honor (the leading vessel) almost cei
to be struck, if not destroyed.

"They know no weariness, and they really seem to take
light in mortar firing, which is painful even to those accustome
it. It requires more than ordinary zeal to stand the ore
Though I may have at times been exacting and fault-finding
them for not conforming with the rules of the service (whicl
quires the education of a life-time to learn) yet I cannot with
my applause when I see these men working with such earnest
untiring devotion to their duties while under fire."

Six steamers accompanied the mortar fleet to move
schooners about and to protect them in a measure from att
that their peculiar armament could not oppose, these steamers b
the Owasco, Miami, Harriet Lane, Westfield, Clifton, and J
Jackson. The Owasco was a ninety-day gunboat; the Miami
of the first lot of double-enders; the Harriet Lane a side- wheel
enue cutter transferred from the Treasury Department, and
other three were large and heavily- armed side- wheel ferry-boat

After the fleet had stripped for action and left at Pilot T
all spars, sails, rigging and unnecessary boats, it moved up tc

THE STEAM NAVY OF TfiE UNlTEt) STATES. 321

desperate undertaking of attacking and passing the two forts,
Jackson and St. Phillip, most advantageously located at a bend on
opposite banks of the riyer. A short distance below the forts the
river was barred with a combination of large log rafts and schoon-
ers at anchor, supporting heavy chains reaching from bank to bank.
Auxiliary to the forts and above them in the river was a flotilla of
Confederate vessels, consisting of four naval steamers, six gunboats
of the local River Defense Fleet, and two armed steamers belong-
ing to the State of Louisiana. The most formidable of the Confed-
erate naval vessels was the ram Manassas, which the previous
October had been in action with the Richmond in the Southwest
Pass and had somewhat damaged that vessel. She was originally
a large sea-going tug-boat named Enoch Train and had been con-
verted into a ram by being arched over with timber and plated with
old-fashioned railroad strap iron, about an inch thick. She had
twin screws and carried one 32-pounder gun pointing right ahead.
Another of the naval vessels was the Louisiana, a large armored
river steamer similar to the Federal iron-clad Benton described in a
previous chapter; she had sixteen heavy guns, nine of them being
VI and Vll-inch rifles, and would have been a formidable antago-
nist had it not been for the fact that Farragut made his attack before
her machinery was quite finished. The other naval vessels and the
River Defense boats were river steamers mounting from two to
seven guns each, lightly armored forward, and the two State vessels
were small sea-going steamers, also armored on their bows, and
mounting two guns each.

The mortar flotilla was moved up to within about three thousand
yards of Fort Jackson and rendered almost indistinguishable by
dressing the masts with bushes and foliage, the vessels lying close
to the bank with a background of trees. On the 18th of April they
opened fire upon Jackson and for nearly six days maintained an
almost uninterrupted bombardment, doing the enemy's works much
damage and receiving some in return, one of the schooners being
sunk at her anchors by a shell dropping completely through her.
To divert the fire of the forts from the mortar fleet, a sloop of war
and two or three gunboats were each day advanced into the zone of
fire and effected the object satisfactorily by moving about near the
head of the line of schooners and firing on the forts at the same

322 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

time. The Oneida, just out of the shipyard where she was b
was the first of the sloops to go into this fire and she demonstr
that in spite of her pretty name of the beautiful lake of the
quois she was to be ruled by an evil star, for her baptism of
cost her many ugly hits and nine men badly wounded. The
forth her career was one of misfortune, until finally in a far-dis
sea she went to the bottom with the greater part of her crew.

While the mortars were thus furiously engaged, Farragut
making all ready for the attempt to run past the forts. One ir
esting expedient adopted by him was the shifting of weights
board all the vessels so that they were down by the head about
foot, the object being to prevent the swift current from swinj
them head down stream in case of taking the bottom, as w<
have resulted had they grounded with the usual trim of the greE
draft aft. All unnecessary top-hamper had been previously
pensed with, and now five of the gunboats removed even t
lower masts. Chain cables were stopped up and down the si
sides to protect the machinery, and the vessels were rendi
difficult to see on the muddy water by daubing them over with
yellow mud of the river. These last two expedients were du<
the ingenuity of engineers on board the Richmond. The us<
chain cable for armor is said by several officers who were attac
to the Richmond at the time to have been suggested by First As
ant Engineer Eben Hoyt of that vessel and was proposed to
commanding officer by the chief engineer, Mr. John W. Mo
From Farragut's detailed report of the battles below New Orl<
the following relating to this point is quoted:

' ' Every vessel was as well prepared as the ingenuity of
commander and officers could suggest, both for the preservatio
life and of the vessel, and, perhaps, there is not on record sue
display of ingenuity as has been evinced in this little squad
The first was by the engineer of the Richmond, Mr. Moore,
suggesting that the sheet cables be stopped up and down on
sides in the line of the engines, which was immediately adopted
all the vessels. ' '

Under the date of October 16, 1862, Chief Engineer Mo

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 323

writing from the Richmond, then at Fensacola, addressed the Navy
Department in regard to a change which had been made to his
disadvantage in the arrangement of the list of chief engineers. On
the original of this letter, now on file in the Department, in Admiral
Farragut's own handwriting is the following endorsement:

' ' Kespectf ully forwarded. Mr. Moore is the gentleman whom
I mentioned in my official letter as the originator of cladding the
ships with their chain cables and has always been spoken of by his
Commander as a man of great merit both in and out of his pro-
fession.

" Yery respectfully,

D. G. Fakkagut."

The commanding officer of the Richmond in forwarding Mr.
Moore's protest took occasion to write the following letter, which
certainly is conclusive as to whether or not the expedients referred
to originated with members of the engineer corps:

"Sir: — I have the honor to enclose herewith a remonstrance
of Chief Engineer Moore of this vessel against the action of a Board
of Examiners which has evidently done him great injustice. Being
more or less interested in the welfare of all those serving under my
command and feeling it a duty to come to their aid when they re-
quire it, I trust that I shall be excused for thus trespassing on your
valuable time and will proceed at once to the point. Imprimis
then, Mr. Moore's professional standing has been fixed at the high-
est point by the several Boards before which he has appeared, and
to my mind he is justly entitled to that distinction; but I wish now
to show the Department that he has besides that other claims to
consideration. They are as follows: About this time last year I
arrived at the Southwest Pass in the South Carolina pretty nearly
broken down in machinery. Our main shaft was all adrift and
neither the Niagara and Colorado could do anything for us. Mr.
Moore, who was on board this ship at the time at the head of the
passes, hearing of our trouble came down and very soon decided
that he could make us all right again, and in less than three days
we were, by his individual exertions, fully and efficiently repaired

324 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

and off for our station. Again, the idea of mailing our vessels'
sides, which was adopted by all the ships of the squadron, with
chain cables, is his. We know that it saved this ship's as well as
the Hartford's machinery from serious injury and consequently the
vessels from destruction, the armor on both having been struck by
solid shot in that vital locality. After the passage of the forts
two-thirds of a 32-pounder shot, which had broken its way through
parts of the chain, was found embedded in our side. The Captain
of the Brooklyn says in his official report, in speaking of the ram
Manassas: " His efforts to damage me were completely frustrated,
our chain armor proving a perfect protection to our sides." Sub-:
sequent examination showed, however, that the ship had received
serious damage and that nothing out the armor saved her from
destruction.

' ' The idea of painting the ships with the mud of the Missis
sippi on that memorable occasion so as to screen them as much as
possible from observation, a color now adopted by the Department
as national, is also Mr. Moore's.

' ' Regretting my inability to state this case properly in fewer
words, I am, Respectfully, Your obedient servant,

"James Alden, Commander.
"Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary U. S. Navy, Washington, D. C."

The night of the 20th of April, Lieutenant Caldwell in the
ItasTca most gallantly boarded one of the schooners supporting the
barrier chain and, finding its ends bitted on board, slipped them
and thus created a gap in the line of obstructions.- The night of the
23rd Farragut made all final preparations for passing through the
gap and running the batteries of the forts. A detailed account of the
event that followed would fill a book the size of this if properly
dealt with, and is, moreover, a story of our navy to which sufficient
justice has never yet been done by historians, it being one of the
greatest and most desperate engagements in our naval annals.
Briefly, at 2 a. m. the 24th, the signal — two blood-red lights at the
peak of the Hartford — was made for the movement to begin and
the leading division, after some delay on account of difficulty in

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 325

managing the anchors in the strong current, moved up through the
opening and into furious action with the forts. This division was
led by Captain Theodorus Bailey in the gunboat Cayuga, followed
by the Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varima, Katahdin, Kineo,
and Wissahickon, in the order named, and was under orders to pro-
ceed along the left, or east, bank of the river, engaging Fort St.
Phillip with the starboard batteries. Captain Bailey belonged to
the Colorado and had hoisted his division flag on the Cayuga through
the kindness of Lieutenant Napoleon B. Harrison commanding that
vessel, the commander of the Oneida having previously objected to
being overshadowed by the presence of a divisional officer on board
his vessel, which objection cost him the honor of having his ship
lead the first column.

Behind Bailey's division came Farragut with the Hartford,
BrooMyn and Richmond, forming what was called the center divi-
sion, and this was followed by Fleet Captain Bell, leading the third
division of six vessels, in the gunboat Sciota. The second and
third divisions were to follow up the western bank and engage Fort
Jackson with the port batteries.1 The steamers attached to the
mortar flotilla moved up near the forts as the fleet got under way
and in conjunction with the mortar schooners opened a terrific can-
nonading against the works, greatly augmented by the firing from
the passing ships. In the heavy smoke that soon settled over the
river it became impossible for signals to be read and much con-
fusion resulted, each vessel being obliged to fight out its own des-
tiny. With the air filled with bursting shells and obscured by
smoke, the roar of heavy guns, the shouts of command, the screams
of mangled men, and the river covered with fire rafts and burning
wreckage, the scene was most awful and unearthly, and justified
the brief comment made by Farragut in his official report: " Such a
fire, I imagine, the world has rarely seen. ' '

The vessels suffered severely from damages and casualties, but
within an hour and a quarter after the Cayuga had passed the gap
in the barrier the fleet with the exception of three gunboats of the last

1 The order of battle herein described is derived from the supplemental report
published in the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1869, which was in-
tended as an official correction of numerous inaccuracies that had appeared in several
naval histories.

326 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

division— the Kennebec, Itasca and Winona— had passed above ti
and appeared in the Confederate flotilla, ' 'like dogs among a f
sheep," as Captain Mahan expresses it in his account of the
in "The Gulf and Inland Waters." The three last gunboa
to bear the brunt of the fire from the forts after the other m
had passed out of range and were very roughly used; the Itasi
wholly disabled by a shot through her boiler, two firemen
severely scalded as a result, and the other gunboats suffer
severely that the attempt to run the batteries appeared nc
foolhardy but impossible. They rejoined the fleet a few
later.

The first vessels to break into the enemy's fleet we
Cayuga and Varivna, both of which fared badly until
vessels came up. The Vamma was rammed by two of the G
erate boats and so damaged that her commander ran her a
where she sank, the crew escaping previous to the disaster wi
exception of three men killed and nine wounded. The Cayut
badly cut up, being struck forty-two times, but she remaic
action and individually received the surrender of three <
enemy's vessels. The ram Manassas struck the Richmond (
starboard side and so crushed in her planking that she nms
been destroyed had the blow been slightly heavier; as it wi
chain armor saved her. The Manassas also rammed the ok
wheel frigate Mississippi and nearly stove in her side, but th<
being a glancing one the break did not extend entirely throuj
side. These acts of the Manassas were committed while the t
were in action with the forts. When the Federal fleet had ]
up, the Mannassas was seen quietly following, and Captain M
thon Smith of the Mississippi — a good fighter and a good Ch
— asked and obtained permission by signal to go back and
her. The ram seemed unwilling to try conclusions with the
old ship coming straight down upon her with the swift curren
just before the impending collision she shied high up into th<
bank, where her crew made hurried preparations for her destr
and abandonment, and then took to the shore. As soon as p<
a boat was sent from the Mississippi to see what could be
with her late antagonist, First Assistant Engineer William H.
being in the boarding party to take charge of the machinery.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 327

>at soon returned, reporting that it was impracticable to save the
Tanassas, -which had been set on fire and disabled, and Mr. Hunt
1 his part reported that the piping through the hull had been cut,
e water run out of sight in the boiler, the fires kept raging in
ie furnaces, the safety valves shored down, and the steam
lage showing 136 pounds (a frightful pressure in those days),
-"with a tendency hellward." The Mississippi therefore re-
irned up the river to rejoin the fleet. Later, the water coming in
trough the cut pipes, depressed the stern of the Manassas, floated
3r bow off the bank, and the current carried her down to Porter's
Lortar fleet, where her appearance created considerable consterna-
on, but she soon faintly exploded and sank.

According to Flag Officer Farragut's report eleven of the
aemy's steamers were destroyed during this morning fight, which
ractically annihilated their fleet. The Federal fleet remained at
ichor one day to rest the men and repair damages and on the
lorning of the 25th, Captain Bailey in the Cayuga still leading,
roceeded up the river, had a sharp skirmish with the Ohalmette
atteries, and at noon anchored off the City of New Orleans. The
ty was taken possession of and held by the naval force under
ery strained and trying circumstances until May 1, when General
. F. Butler arrived with a large force and assumed military con-
ol of the place, the fleet soon after proceeding on its mission of
mquest up the river. Commander Porter continued the bombard-
Lent of the lower forts with his flotilla until the 28th of April, when
ley surrendered to him. The casualties in the fleet during the
attle of the 24th, as reported by the fleet surgeon, amounted to
drty-seven killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded, a
scord that makes this one of the bloodiest naval battles of the re-
sllion. Two officers, both midshipmen, were killed and eleven
ere wounded ; three of the latter — Second Assistant Engineer S.
rilkins Cragg, acting chief of the Kineo; Third Assistant J. C.
hartley of the Pensacola, and Acting Third Assistant Frank K.
ain of the Colorado, serving as a volunteer on the Iroquois — were
': the engineer corps, all injured by gunshot wounds.

The reports of many of the commanding officers of vessels en-
iged in this battle referred in terms of praise to the zeal and abil ■
y displayed by the engineers and .their men in keeping the machin-

328 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ery in efficient operation under trying conditions. Captain Bs
in describing the battle afterward, on the occasion of a bai
given him at the Astor House in New York, is credited with hi
made the modest statement that, "the engineers ran the ships
all we had to do was to blaze away when we got up to the fc
Assistant Engineer Hartley of the Pensacola was most high
f erred to in the official reports for the courage he exhibited; hi
stationed at the engine-room bell and was wounded in the he;
a piece of shell, and, although urged to go below for treat]
refused to leave his station, remaining there all through the ai

On the 28th of May Chief Engineer James B. Kimball o
Hartford, while ashore in Baton Rouge with a boat's crew on
was suddenly fired upon by the enemy and himself and two <
men badly wounded. Mr. Kimball was struck in the head,
and neck with slugs and most painfully hurt, although hi
covered.

A frightful disaster befell a squadron of the Mississippi fl
in June of this year. The gunboats Mound City, St. Louis,
ington, and Gonestoga, under Commander Augustus H. Kilty <
Mound City, were sent into White River to convoy som£
transports and assist in an attack upon some Confederate
teries at St. Charles, Arkansas. The attack was made June 1
resulted in the capture of the enemy's fortifications, but during it
gress a shot penetrated the casemate of the Mound City just al
gun port, killed three men in its flight, and exploded her steam i
The immediate result was horrible; nearly eighty men were sc
to death by the steam which filled the casemate, and forty
others were drowned or shot by the enemy after leaping
board. Of one hundred and seventy-five officers and men
twenty-five escaped uninjured, the number killed or who i
quently died being one hundred and thirty-five. Commander
was so scalded that his left hand had to be amputated. A
the killed were Chief Engineer John Cox; Second Assistant
neer John C. McAfee, and Third Assistant G. W. Hoi
worth.

Early in the morning of June 28th, Admiral Farragut wi
Hartford, Richmond, Iroquois, Oneida, Wis&ahickon, £.
Winona, and Pmola ran the batteries at Vicksburg, assisti

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 329

>mmander Porter with his mortar flotilla. The military impor-
nce of this move is not apparent, as the batteries were not de-
coyed, and in the nature of things could not be materially harmed
' ships, located as they were on bluffs high above the water
pom Farragut's report it seems that the move was largely experi-
ental, for he says:

"In obedience to the orders of the department and the com-
and of the President, I proceeded back to Yicksburg with the
rookh/n, Richmond, and Hertford, with the determination to
,rry out my instructions to the best of my ability. ' '

And again:

' 'The department will perceive from this (my) report that the
rts can be passed, and we have done it, and can do it again as
'ten as may be required of us. It will not, however, be an easy
atter for us to do more than silence the batteries for a time, as
ng as the enemy has a large force behind the hills to prevent our
nding and holding the place."

One of Porter's steamers, the CUfton, was disabled in this
fair by a shot through her boiler which killed six men by scalding,
be total casualties of the morning were fifteen men killed and
irty wounded, about one-third of the number being on the flag-
tip. Farragut himself and Captain Broome of the Marine corps
>pear on the surgeon's report of casualties as having suffered from
•ntusions on the Hartford. The report of Commander S. P. Lee
the Oneida says: " One 6-inch rifle shell came through the star-
>ard after pivot port, killing S. H. Eandall, a seaman, at the after
vot gun, severely wounding Eichard Hodgson, third assistant en-
neer, at the engine bell, and, passing through the coamings of
e engine-room hatch, picked up three loaded muskets, (each lying
it on the deck, on the port side of that hatch) and burst into the
ilwarks, over the first cutter, which was lowered to near the
iter's edge, drove the muskets through the open port there, and
verely wounded William Cowell, seaman, who was in the boat
unding, and slightly wounding Henry Clark, chief boatswain's
ate A second 8-inch compound solid shot carried

330 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

away, amidships, the keel of the launch, (which was partly low<
and, entering on the starboard side, struck the steam drum,
glancing, fell into the fire-room."

On the 5th of July when the iron-clad Lexington was
ceeding along the White River, Arkansas, her chief engineer,
Joseph Huber, was shot dead by guerillas lurking along
banks.

On the Atlantic coast after the remarkable fight of the
clads in Hampton Roads there were no very important nava
gagements during the year. The unromantic and wearying wo
maintaining the blockade along that coast employed the gr
number of the sea-going vessels and kept them extremely ac
while in the rivers, bays and sounds the smaller steamers wer
gaged in a ceaseless border warfare with the armed vessels
shore batteries of the enemy. This latter employment furnisl
fine field for adventure and, although on a small scale, gave oj
tunity for the development of a class of intrepid and self-K
young officers, of which class Lieutenant-commander C. W. Fl
and Lieutenant Wm. B. Cushing were brilliant examples. Tv
three incidents will suffice to indicate the dangerous nature of
litteral warfare.

On the 14th of August Lieutenant George B. Balch in th<
cahontas proceeded up Black River, South Carolina, some tw
five miles looking for a Confederate steamer said to be in h
there. Meeting with more resistance than expected from the ei
along the banks he finally turned back and as the neighborhoo<
become aroused the Pocahontas had to run the gauntlet for
twenty miles of riflemen concealed in the thickets on both b
she replying all the distance with grape and cannister and sma
fire. By keeping the men behind breastworks of hammocks
lumber she escaped with only one casualty, that being report*
Lieutenant Balch as follows: "At 3:40 p. m., whilst under a
sharp fire of the enemy, Acting Third Assistant Engineer Jol
Hill was wounded by a Minie ball, and I regret to report tha
wound is very dangerous; as yet, however, I am rejoiced to
that his symptoms are all favorable; it is a penetrating wound <
abdomen, the ball having passed entirely through his bod)
need not say that he is receiving the most assiduous care o:

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 331

Rhoades, and he has been removed to the open deck under the
poop, that he may have the benefit of the cooler atmosphere ; and I
am satisfied that if skill and attention can avail his life will be
saved."

Mr. Hill furnished an example of remarkable recovery, for he
survived his wound, served faithfully throughout the war and, as a
first assistant engineer, was honorably mustered out in December,
1865.

September 9th, the Shawsheen had a similar experience, she
being ambushed off Cross' Landing in the Chowan River, North
Carolina, and escaped with one casualty, also an assistant engineer;
this officer, John Wall by name, was shot in the thigh and wrist and
dangerously wounded, but ultimately recovered.

The morning of October 3d, Lieutenant Commander Flusser
with the Commodore Perry, Hwnchback, and Whitehead went up
the Blackwater River to co-operate with Major General Dix in an
attack on Franklin, Virginia. When near the town the vessels
were suddenly attacked by a large force lying in ambush in the
woods and on high bluffs, and suffered severely, not being able to
use their ordnance to advantage in reply. After fighting for three
hours under these conditions and getting no support from the army,
which did not appear, the steamers returned down the river, being
obliged to force their way with a heavy head of steam through ob-
structions made by the enemy felling trees into the narrow stream.
The affair cost four men killed and fifteen wounded, twelve of the
casualties being on Flusser's steamer, the Commodore Perry. One
of the killed was an officer — Master's Mate John Lynch. The
following instances of gallantry are mentioned in Flusser's report:

" I desire to mention as worthy of praise for great gallantry,
Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who ran the field-piece out amid
a storm of bullets, took a sure and deliberate aim at the rebels, and
sent a charge of cannister among them, that completely silenced
their fire at that point. Mr. Lynch assisted Mr. Cushing, and here
met his death like a brave fellow, as he was.

"Mr. Richards, third assistant engineer, who had charge of
the powder division, also assisted with the howitzer, and showed

332 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

great courage. Mr. Anderson, the paymaster, was of great ass
ance in bringing in the wounded from under the fire. ' '

Upon the receipt of this report Acting Rear Admiral Lee, e<
manding the squadron, directed that Acting Third Assistant Enj
eer George W. Richards be examined for promotion on accoun
his conduct in the fight, and he was shortly afterward advance*
the grade of acting second assistant engineer.

The fine screw-sloop Adirondack, fresh from the New York n
yard where she was built, while proceeding to the Gulf of Me:
struck on a reef near Little Abaco Island the morning of Aug
23rd, and became a total wreck, the engineer of the watch stat
that when she struck he saw the jagged points of the reef stick
up through her bottom into the fire-room. At daylight the cc
manding officer, Captain Guert Gansevoort, ordered all hands to
to the island, about five miles distant, and said that he would
main on board. The boatswain, Mr. William Green, and Sec<
Assistant Engineer Henry W. Robie elected to stay with him ;
soon had to defend the ship with hatchets and revolvers againi
boat load of villainous-looking black wreckers who came off
board her, but were successfully driven off. The two officers nan
finally prevailed upon the almost distracted captain to abandon
ship, her salvage being hopeless, and with him went ashore to j
the rest of the crew. All hands lost everything they owned ex&
the clothing they had on at the time of stranding, as the ship fil
with water immediately and settled down on the reef until her S]
deck was almost awash. The shipwrecked men remained on Lii
Abaco about two weeks, when they were taken off by the U. S.
Canandaigua. The members of the corps who shared in this n
fortune were Chief Engineer Alexander Henderson, First AssiBti
Engineer George J. Barry, Second Assistants Louis J. Allen i
Henry W. Robie, and Third Assistants T. M. Mitchell, J.
Greene and Thomas Crummey.

Mr. Robie was a brother of Chief Engineer E. D. Robie
prominent member of the corps until his recent retirement, t
from his unfortunate adventure in the Adirondack went to the n
monitor Passaic, where a more dangerous experience was in st
for him. The Passaic and the Monitor left Hampton Roads

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 333

afternoon of December 29th, 1862, to join the blockading fleet off
Charleston, the former being towed by the State of Georgia and the
latter by the Hhode Island, but both using their own steam as well.
Captain Percival Drayton commanded the Passaic and Commander
J. P. Bankhead the Monitor, the senior engineers of the vessels
respectively being First Assistant Engineer George Bright and Sec-
ond Assistant Joseph Watters. The evening of December 30 the
sea became rough, and the Monitor began making heavy weather
of it, taking in quantities of water through the hawse pipes and
under the turret, and generally renewing the experience of her first
voyage from New York. The water gained steadily and soon im-
paired the fires by rising into the ash pits and swashing against the
grate bars, until the falling steam pressure showed too plainly that
the engines and pumps must soon stop. At 10:30 p. m. signals of
distress were made to the Rhode Island and that vessel undertook
the extremely dangerous and difficult task of removing iheMonitor's
people in the heavy sea by means of boats, but before the work was
completed the Monitor sank. This happened shortly after mid-
night of the morning of December 31, about twenty miles S. S.-W.
of Cape Hatteras. With her perished acting ensigns Norman
Atwater and George Frederickson; third assistant engineers K. W.
Hands and Samuel A. Lewis, and twelve enlisted men. In Com-
mander Bankhead's report of the disaster he asserted his convic-
tion that a serious leak had been sprung by the pounding of the
sea separating the iron hull from the wooden upper body, and this
seems very probable.

In the meantime the Passaic was having a similar experience,
water gaining in her bilges steadily on account of lack of strainers
on the suction pipes of the pumps which resulted in the pump valves
soon choking with dirt and ashes. This absence of a very essential
fitting was caused by the vessel having been hurried away from the
contractors' works by the naval authorities before the engine-room
details were completed. About midnight the last pump gave out
and as the water threatened to reach the fires and extinguish them,
the fire-room was abandoned and the crew assembled on top of the
turret. The chief engineer was confined to his room by illness
before the vessel left Hampton Roads, leaving Mr. Robie in charge,
and he now proved himself equal to the emergency. With a second

334 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

class fireman named Kiehards, who volunteered to stay below i
him, he put on the bilge injection and for two or three hours si
over it, almost submerged in water, keeping the mouth of the ]
clear and opening or closing the valves as required, while the
man attended to the fires. Captain Drayton waded into the
room during this time and gave the not very cheering informa
that the Monitor had just gone down. Eventually the pump gai
on the water and confidence was restored. The story of Mr. Kol
heroism is more fully set forth in the following affidavit mad<
the surgeon of the vessel:

"Newark, N. J., May 1st., 1890.

''To whom in the interest of patriotism and justice it may (
cern, be it known that I, Edgar Holden, formerly Surgeon of
monitor Passaic, actuated by a desire to see atonement made 1
great government for the unmerited neglect of a brave f ellow-offi
to whose heroism and fortitude were due the safety of the mon
J?assaie, and through this the consummation of the plan for pla<
jfhe monitor ironclads in southern waters during the late war.
certify to the following facts; said facts being not matters of men
but drawn from notes made at the time in my private journal
in large part published in the year 1863 in Harpers Monthly 1
azine, October, 1863.

"To- wit: That when in that awful night in which the orig
Monitor was lost, officers and men had toiled for hours at the se
ingly hopeless task of throwing overboard shot and shell and bai
the sinking ironclad with buckets passed from hand to hand,
when from exhaustion and despair we fell at times to rise a
to the futile task, and when from the engine-room c
the report that one after another the pumps had given out, and
the water was knee deep in the fire-room, swashing against the
bars with every lurch of the ship, and when finally the report c
'the last pump has failed' and we threw down our buckets to
that Assistant Engineer H.W.Kobie stood alone at his post and
ceeded in starting the pumps known as the bilge injections,
frequently submerged to the neck in water, worked the valves
his hands, his head held by myself or his fireman, while the
seemed puerile to the despairing men on deck. That he stood

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 335

hours under the platform around the engines to prevent the entrance
of chips and floating debris from entering and clogging the valves
which were without the usual strainers. That these pumps were the
only ones that could be so cleared, the others having suction pipes
passing in some way that I have forgotten through an iron bulkhead
and making it impossible to free them. That Mr. Kobie thus stood
at his post after all but one fireman had left the engine rooms. That
further it was my conviction, as well as that of all who knew at the
time of his heroism, that to his fidelity alone was due the safety of
the Passaic.

"And I would further certify that only of late have I been
made aware that this unsurpassed devotion to duty has never been
acknowledged by the Navy Department or the Government, and
that the facts were not made known at the time, probably through a
patriotic desire to conceal the bad sea-going qualities of the monitors,
and were certainly omitted from my published journal solely on this
account.

' ' I would further state that this gallant officer is, as I am cred-
ibly informed, ill and in straitened circumstances, and that any ac-
tion tending to show a just appreciation of his invaluable services
should be taken promptly.

(Signed,)

"Edgae Holden, M. D., Ph. D.
"Medical Director Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., Fellow
and Vice President American Laryngological Society,
Member American Medical Association, etc., etc.; for-
merly Assistant Surgeon U. S. N."

" Personally appeared before me this 2d day of May, 1890,
Dr. Edgar Holden, of the city of Newark and county of Essex,
known to me to be a physician and surgeon in good standing, for
merly an officer of the United States Navy, who certifies that the
above statements are just and true.

(Signed,)
"F. K. Howell, Notary Public, N. J."

Heroism and devotion to duty of the order described have won
promotion and reward in innumerable instances where the degree
was less than in this case, but there is no record of Mr. Robie hav-

336 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

ing received either for his signal services. One considerable rec
nition which he did receive, and which he said well repaid him
his experience, occurred shortly before the battle in Mobile B
when Captain Drayton introduced him to Admiral Farragut v<
the remark, ' ' Mr. Eobie saved the Passaic the night the Mom
was lost."

CHAPTEK XX.

11 When the temple at Jerusalem was completed, King Solomon gave a feast to
the artificers employed in its construction. On unveiling the throne it was found that
a blacksmith had usurped the seat of honor on the right of the king's place, not yet
awarded. Whereupon the people clamored and the guard rushed to cut him down.
• Let him speak ! ' commanded Solomon. ' Thou hast, O King, invited all craftsmen
but me, yet how could these builders have raised the temple without the tools I fash-
ioned ? ' 'True,' decreed Solomon, ' the seat is his of right. All honor to the iron-
worker.' " — Jewish Legend.

1862 — The Civil War, Continued— Increase of the Navy — Steamers Purchased
Mississippi Flotilla Transferred to the Navy Department — Steam Ves-
sels of War Placed Under Construction — The Passaic Class of Monitors
— The Dictator and Pobitan — The Miantonomoh Class — Other Moni-
tors— The Keokuk — The Dunderberq — Legislation Regarding the Navy
— RetiredXist Established — Creation of the Bureau of Steam Engineer-
ing— Pensions.

DUEING- 1862 the naval force both in ships and men was largly
increased. About fifty steamers from the merchant service were
bought during the year and converted into armed vessels, and a sim-
ilar number of vessels was added to the naval establishment by the
transfer of the Mississippi flotilla in July from the army and by the
transfer of some revenue cutters from the Treasury Department. Sev-
eral vessels captured from the enemy in action, or while attemptiug
to run the blockade, were found suitable for use as war steamers,
prominent among these being the powerful iron-clad ram Tennessee
captured at New Orleans while still unfinished, and the steamer East-
port taken by Lieutenant Phelps in the Tennessee River.

This year witnessed a remarkable awakening of public interest
in naval ship construction; an interest that took the form of practic-
ally dictating to the Navy Department the types of war ships the
country needed, and was so powerful that it entirely overcame
and consigned to the background the practices and prejudices which
had long been fundamental in the naval service relative to the same
subject. As a result all the old theories based upon the supposed
unreliability of steam, the alleged necessity for sail-power on war-

338 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

vessels, and the doubted utility of iron as a material for ship cons
tion, were cast aside, and with the prestige resulting from the
formance of the Monitor and the failure of the old type of shi
Hampton Roads the engineer was allowed free scope to develo;
ideas and build ships embodying them. It was, in fact, one of t
occasions which recur from time to time when society is force
unusual circumstances to admit its dependence upon the iron-woi
and in its distress to fall before him humbly begging for sui
The result of all this was that the greater part of the constru
activity of the year was devoted to the building of engineers'
ships, — mastless vessels dependent entirely upon steam and m
with iron.

If public opinion sustained and demanded this revolutic
naval architecture, the same cannot be said of naval opii
With the exception of engineers, who saw in the change a devi
ment of their own specialty, the general sentiment of the nav
exhibited by a multitude of letters, reports and opinions, all i
of public knowledge through the medium of Navy Depart]
and Congressional publications, appears to have been one of
trust, if not positive opposition to the new development. Tht
was that the engineer corps, with a few prominent exceptioj
other branches of the service, had to bear the brunt of inces
attacks upon the probable utility of the new class of vessel
strife that was well maintained against great odds at first
finally terminated in an historical controversy between a pj
inent representative of each naval faction, from which controv
the engineer and the principles championed by him emerged
nally victorious.

It is unnecessary to introduce any of the opinions of th<
school naval officers, breathing hostility to the engineers' si
for a proper respect for the intelligence and patriotism of
officers of our navy as a class is sufficient warrant that sue
those opinions as have been preserved are not indicative of th«
lief of the whole service. That belief, however, while not acti
hostile, was far from being favorable, and cannot be more truth:
presented than by quoting from an opinion respecting iron-clads
mitted to the Navy Department in February, 1864,byRear Admir
M. Goldsborough, an officer of more than fifty years service, of g

THE STEAM NATS' OF THE UNITED STATES. 339

prominence and recognized professional ability, and as progressive
and liberal-minded a representative of this class as could well be
found.

' ' Their absolute worth, however, in these particulars, (offensive
and defensive properties), I cannot regard as entitled to the extrav-
agant merit claimed for it, induced, I apprehend, in a great measure
by conclusions drawn from the encounters of the first Monitor and
Weehawken with the Merrimack and Atlanta, without a sufficient
knowledge of the facts attending them, and without any (or more
than an unwilling) reference to the case s of opposite results, as, for
instance, the Ogeechee,and the repeated displays before Charleston.
That the charm of novelty in construction, or quaintness in appear-
ance, had anything to do with the matter, I will not undertake to
assert, although I may, perhaps, be allowed to indulge suspicion as
to probable effect. Popular opinion is not always right on such sub-
jects, nor do I know that it is apt to be when it runs counter to pop-
ular naval opinion. At any rate, I do know that the latter is not
likely to be very wrong in relation to professional matters of the
kind."

Before the original Monitor was launched, Secretary Welles
had become convinced of the extraordinary merits of that type of
fighting ship, and in his annual report, in December, 1861, he rec-
ommended the immediate construction of twenty iron-clad steamers.
The House of Kepiesentatives acted quickly on this recommendation
and passed a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to cause to
be constructed not exceeding twenty-one iron-clad steam gunboats.
The Senate, more conservative, delayed action on the bill until Feb-
ruary, when the Secretary of the Navy, forseeing that the country
would suffer from longer inaction, addressed the chairman of the
Senate naval committee on the subject, with the result that the bill
was soon passed . In its final form it authorized the Navy Depart-
ment to expend $10,000,000 for armored vessels, and this appro-
priation was greatly augmented by subsequent legislation.

Under date of March 31, the Department entered into contract
with John Ericsson for the construction, hull and machinery com-
plete, of six single-turreted monitors, slightly larger than his first
vessel and possessing improvements that experience had shown to

340 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

be desirable. Chief among the changes was the locating of the
pilot house on top of the turret, and the installation of a permanent
smoke-pipe. Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers was detailed as gen-
eral superintendent of the building of these vessels. Encouraged by
his happy selection of the name of the Monitor, Ericsson proceeded
to name these six, Impenetrable, Penetrator, Paradox, Qawvtlet, Palla-
dium, and Agitator, but the Department very properly disapproved
of these polysyllables and gave the vessels good American names—
Passaic, Montauk, Catskill, Patapsco, Lehigh, and Sangamon, — under
which they did the state good service and with which four of them
are still on the navy list, and a fifth, the Sangamon with her name
changed to Jason, also remains with us. The Patapsco was
lost in January, 1865. Besides these six, there were four others of
the Passaic class, built by other contractors from Ericsson's general
designs, these being the Nantucket, built by the Atlantic Works, Bos-
ton; the Nahant, by Harrison Loring, Boston; the Weehawken, byZ.
and F. Secor, New York, and the Camanche. The contract for this
last vessel was given to Donahue, Ryan & Secor of San Francisco,
-Cal. and the actual work of building the ship was done at the ship
yard of the Secor brothers in Jersey City: when the different parts
were all completed a sailing ship, the Aquila,wa,s freighted with them
and proceeded to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn, having the
misfortune to sink at the dock soon after arriving at her destination.
After these delays, the Camanche did not appear as a completed
monitor until 1865. There is perhaps no more eloquent tribute to
the genius of John Ericsson than the fact that of the thirteen single
turreted monitors that remain in our navy as the survivors of the
many vessels of that type built during the war, eight are members
of the original ten of the Passaic class.

On the 28th of July a contract was made with Ericsson for two large
and high-powered monitors, which he named Puritan and Protector,
the first name being accepted by the Department and the second
changed to Dictator. The following table exhibits the main features
of the Ericsson monitors of 1862 compared with the original Monitor,
the data given being with reference to the vessels as actually built
and not according to their dimensions as altered by subsequent re-
building or repairs. The table is from Church's Life of John
Ericsson.

i-T °

a «a

3 g

o ft

ft *
2 ™

T3 'rt

C3
0)

CD
X

33 ffl

E-~

a -w

cfi

5 **-"

a> 5

S«

z
-<

•H o

O ^
O CO

a
o

M a)

0) of

^-< CD

.- k

$ o

-Q

§ -?

o
a

o o

■§. a

em H
5 c3

ft. A

S -c

"=3 £P

'ft fe

H M

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

343

Contract price, each

Extreme length, feet

Extreme breadth, feet

Depth of hold, feet

Draft of water, feet

Diam. of turret, inside, feet

Thickness of armor, inches

Diameter of propellers, feet

Diam. steam cylinders, inches

Length of stroke, inches

Side armor, inches

Weight of guns, pounds

Coal capacity, tons

Displacement, tons

Tonnage

Midship section, square feet...

Monitor.

$275,000
172
41*
11*
10K
20
8
9
36
24
4K
44,000

100
987

776

521

Passaic &
class 6.

Dictator and
Puritan.

$400,000
200
46

10M

10K
12

84,000

150
1,335

844

392

$1,150,000
312 and 340
50
21#
20
24
15
21 J*
100
48
6
84,000 and
220,000
300 and 1,000
4,438 and
4,912
3,033 and
3,265
777

The story of the troubles and delays experienced in the building
of the two large monitors is too long to go into. Ericsson was
much hampered and annoyed by the numerous changes in his de-
signs forced upon him by the Department acting on the advice of
naval officers with and without experience in monitors. One con-
siderable modification in the Dictator was in dispensing with the
forward overhang of the upper hull, which Ericsson regarded as an
essential as it afforded a perfect protection to the anchors when under
fire. Officers in command of the smaller monitors while the Dicta-
tor was building generally condemned that feature and believed it
had been the cause of the loss of the Monitor, their opinions ultim-
ately leading to the modification referred to. "When the Dictator
went into service at the end of 1864 her commander, Captain John
Kodgers, complained of the absence of the forward overhang, which
complaint angered Ericsson on account of the source of the influence
that had forced him to make the change. Writing to the Secretary
of the JSTavy regarding the criticisms to which the monitors were
subjected by the commander of one of them, he said: "I
trust that neither he nor the officers of the turret vessels,
all of whom are admitted to be as skilful in their profession as
they are brave, will take offense at my remarks. I have only the
single object in view — the triumph of the service which their skill

344 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

and valor has raised so high in the public estimation. 1 beg, ear-
nestly, however, to call their attention to the fact that they have
entered on a new era, and that they are handling not ships, but
floating machines, and that, however eminent their seamanship,
they cannot afford to disregard the advice of the engineer."

With all his engineering ability, Ericsson made some mistakes
himself right in the line of his own profession, and as he was so
stubborn by nature and so confident of his own powers his errors
were seldom corrected until too late, for he would take advice of no
man. Chief Engineer E. D. Eobie, U. S. Navy, was the naval
superintendent of the construction of the Dictator, and, without
claiming to be a genius or a remarkable inventor, he was a better
marine engineer than Ericsson, for he had the invaluable knowledge
gained by long experience with engines at sea which Ericsson
lacked, and without which no engineer, no matter how accom-
plished, can intelligently design marine engines. Several faults in
design were pointed out by Mr. Kobie, who knew to a certainty
that they would result in trouble at sea, but Ericsson would listen
to nothing, his favorite reply to these suggestions, which was both
egotistical and incorrect, being that he had built successful engines
before Eobie was born.

One fault alone which Ericsson scorned to recognize resulted
in defeating the hopes of the Department regarding the first opera-
tions of the Dictator. Her main shaft was nineteen inches in dia-
meter, an enormous size even for this day, and the main bearings
as designed were disproportionately short for the size of the shaft
they were to support. This was strenuously objected to by Robie,
but without avail, and the result was that when the Dictator started
to join the fleet for the first assault on Fort Fisher, her first employ
ment, the bearings wore down three-eighths of an inch in going
twenty miles and the shaft became so loose as to endanger the ship.
Upon Chief Engineer Robie's report, she was turned back to port,
and for many weeks she had to lie idle under Robie's charge while
he had longer brasses made and brackets fitted to support them.
This was a most lamentable failure when the Department was ex-
pecting bo much of the ship, and Ericsson afterward admitted in
conversation with Mr. Robie that for once he had made a mistake
in not listening to the opinions of another engineer.

8
T3

c3
0)

■£

,5f

S
o

3 *

CO +a

oo £

1— < «

■s I

o — -

TS-
UI

O
A

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 347

Against Ericsson's wishes the Puritan was provided with twin
screws, and it was also directed that she be fitted with two turrets ;
to this latter modification of his plan Ericsson vehemently objected,
and finally arranged a compromise of one hnge turret to mount two
twenty-inch guns, but these changes and counter changes amounted
to nothing, for the end of the war found the Puritan still unfinished.
The Yvrginius excitement in 1874 induced the Navy Department
to take steps towards her completion, but she cannot be said to be
finished yet, for now (1896) the work of converting her into a coast
defense battle-ship is still going forward. Very little of Ericsson's
ship remains in the new Puritan. The Dictator was put in service
and sent to Key West at the time of the Ywgvnius affair and proved
to be an excellent sea boat, but very expensive to operate. In 1883
she was sold to A. Purves & Son of Philadelphia for $40,250, the
government having expended up to that time about $260,000 for
her preservation and repair, in addition to her original cost.

Besides the twelve Ericsson monitors already referred to,
twenty-eight other armored vessels, the majority of which were of the
monitor type, were placed under construction during the year. Four
of these were large double-turreted vessels designed to carry four
XT-inch guns each and were undertaken by the government at the
navy yards as follows: Miantonom&h at Hew York; Toncwanda
(afterward Amphitrite) at Philadelphia; Monadnock at Boston, and
Agamenticus (Terror) at Battery, Maine. Machinery for these vessels
was contracted for with various builders in New York and Philadel-
phia, that for the first two named being designed by Engineer-in-
Chief Isherwood and that for the other two by John Ericsson. The
turrets, side armor, deck plating, stringers, etc. were obtained by
contract with different iron manufacturers. The Onondaga^ also
two-turreted, was contracted for, hull and machinery complete, with
George Quintard of New York and was built for him by T. F. Kow-
land at the Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint. Four other two-
turreted monitors were placed under construction in the Mississippi
Valley, the contracts for them, dated May 27th, being with the
following builders: Thomas G. Gaylord, Cincinnati, Ohio, for the
Chickasaw, G. B. Allen & Co., St. Louis, for the Kickapoo; James
B. Edes, St. Louis, for the Milwaukee and Winnebago. These west-
ern craft were modifications of Ericsson's monitor, their decks in-

348 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

stead of being flat were so much crowned that they were known as
" turtle-backs, " and the guns were mounted in turrets built from
Edes' designs on the disappearing principle.

In September, nine single-turret monitors, somewhat larger than
the Passaic class were contracted for as follows: With Harrison
Loring, Boston, for the Oanonicus; Swift, Evans & Co., Cincinnati,
for the Catawba and Oneota; Z. & F. Secor, New York, for the
Mahopac, Manhattan and Tecumseh; Albert G. Mann, Pittsburgh,
for the Manayunk; Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware,
for the Samgus, and MileB Greenwood, Cincinnati, for the Tippecanoe.
Two very small single-turret vessels, the Marietta and Sandusky, were
contracted for May 16th with Hartupee & Co., Pittsburgh, and
during the same month contracts were signed with James B. Edes,
St. Louis, for the Neosho and Osage, having one turret and recessed
stern wheels, and with George C. Bestor, Peoria, 111. , for a similar
vessel, the Ozark. Joseph Brown of St. Louis by contracts signed
May 30th, built three small iron-plated casemate vessels named
Chilicothe, Tuscumbia and Indianola. These vessels had side wheels
far aft working independently to facilitate turning in close quarters,
and had also twin screw propellers.

One or two novel plans for armored war-vessels were accepted
during the year as the aftermath of the crop of designs submitted to
the iron-clad board of 1861. One remarkable vessel originating in
this manner was the Keokuk, built according.to the terms of the con-
tract made with Charles W. Whitney of New York on the 25th of
March. This contract called for an iron-plated, shot-proof steam
battery, 159 feet long, 36 feet beam, 13 feet 6 inches depth of hold,
to carry two Xl-inch guns mounted in towers. Low-pressure con-
densing engines capable of driving the vessel ten knots per hour for
twelve consecutive hours were specified. The contract price was
$220,000. The peculiar feature of the Keokuk was in the disposi-
tion of armor, the sides being built of alternate horizontal strata of
wooden timbers and iron bars, each layer being about five inches
wide. Like the Galena, this conception came to grief when sub-
jected to the fire of the enemy, and in worse degree; for she sank
from the effects of the puncturing she received, as will be related in
a subsequent chapter regarding naval operations off Charleston.

Another iron-clad of quite different type was the Dunderberg,

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350 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

contracted for with W. H. Webb of New York city, July 3rd, 1862.
This vessel, described as an "ocean-going iron-clad frigate ram,"
was a remarkable step in advance of the war-ship construction of the
time, but was not put to the test of battle as her great size and huge
pieces of iron work to be made so delayed her building that she was
not launched until July 22, 1865. The tendency in armored ship
construction after the affair of the Monitor and Merrimao was to
accept Ericsson's circular turret as the proper protection for guns,
and this plan, modified and improved by changing conditions and
better appliances for perfecting mechanical work, still remains and
may be seen in one form or another in almost every armored vessel
of the present day. The Dwnderberg, however, departed most
radically from the favorite practice of her year, and instead of the
features of the Monitor her construction presented an almost faithful
reproduction, in a greatly improved form, of the general character-
istics of the Merrvmac. That is, she consisted essentially of a low
hull surmounted with a sloping-sided armored casemate protecting a
very heavy battery. Great engine power, calculated to give a sea
speed of fifteen knots an hour, and an enormous ram fifty feet long
were important factors in her war-like make up. The hull, of un-
usually heavy timbers, was built in Mr. Webb's shipyard, foot of
Sixth Street, East River, and the machinery was built by John Roach
& Son at the Etna Iron Works near by. Chief Engineer Wm. W.
W. Wood, IT. S. Navy, was the general Superintendent of construc-
tion and Second Assistant Engineer Wilson K. Purse was the resident
inspector at the Etna Iron Works. The contract price for the vessel
complete was $1,250,000.

The following table exhibits the general dimensions of the ship
and machinery, and shows her to have been an unusually huge craft
f©r her day.

Extreme length 380 feet 4 inches.

Extreme beam 72 " 10 "

Depth of main hold 22 " 7 "

Height of casemate 7 " 9 "

Length of ram 50 "

Draft when fully equipped for sea 21 "

Displacement 7,000 ton§.

Tonnage 5,090 "

Weight of iron armor , , J.,000 '»

'■■ ..

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 353

Diameter o£ steam cylinders (two) 100 inches.

Stroke of pistons 45 "

Boilers — Six main and two auxiliary.

Depth of boilers 13 feet.

Height of boilers _ 17 feet 6 inches.

Front width of boilers, each 21 " 5 "

Weight of boilers 450 tons.

Total heating surface 30,000 square feet

Grate surface 1,200 " "

Cooling surface in condensers 12,000 " "

Diameter of screw propeller 21 feet.

Pitch of propeller 27 to 30 "

Weight of propeller 34,580 pounds.

Capacity of coal bunkers 1,000 tons.

Horse-power of main engines 5,000

This "Thundering Mountain" of the navy, as her size and
armament as well as the translation of her name caused her to be
called, embraced a number of features in construction now regarded
as essential but which in 1862-3 were thought unimportant or were
almost unheard of. She had a double bottom, collision
bulkheads, and a system of transverse longitudinal and
water-tight bulkheads extending up to the spar deck. The
engine and boiler spaces were entirely enclosed with water-
tight bulkheads. Her air and circulating pumps were
independent of the main engines and she had also a pair of
independent wrecking pumps. The smoke-pipe, thirteen feet in
diameter, had armor gratings fitted inside it, as is now universally
practiced, to prevent injury to the boilers by grenades or heavy
debris. The engines were horizontal back-acting in arrangement,
designed to run at an ordinary speed of sixty revolutions per minute,
with intention to work up to eighty revolutions for full power. The
main shaft was 118 feet long and 18 inches in diameter, and was sup-
ported by bearings 40 inches long cored for water circulation The
air and circulating pumps each had two steam cylinders 36"x36",
which in themselves were engines nearly as large as the propelling
engines of the Ckmandwigua class of sloops of war.

Not being completed until after the Civil War was over, the
naval authorities had no desire to receive this splendid specimen of
war- ship into the service, the policy then being to get rid of as
many vessels as possible instead of adding to the number. At Mr.

354

THE STEAM NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES.

Webb's request the vessel was released to him under the terms of
a special act of Congress approved March 2, 1867, he refunding to
the government the sum of $1,092,887.73, which had been paid to
him on account. He immediately sold her to the French govern-
ment, and under the name of Bochambeau she was for many years
regarded as one of the most formidable vessels in the navy of that
country. The effect of the presence in the French navy of the Dwn-
d&rberg is still visible in the exaggerated ram bows and home-sloping
top sides so generally designed by French naval architects. Mr.
Edward Marsland, who had been a first assistant engineer in the
navy during the war, went across the Atlantic in the Ihmderberg as
her chief engineer and found the sea-behaviour of both ship and
machinery admirable. The same day that Congress authorized the
release of the Dwiderberg to Mr. Webb another private act was
passed releasing the Onondaga to Mr. Quintard, who refunded the
money he had been paid and received the vessel, although she had

Longitudinal section of the Dunderberg, showing backing of ram, arrangement
of machinery, disposition of armor, etc.

been completed and in active service the last eighteen months of the
war. She also was sold to the French and still appears on the
navy list of that country as an armored coast-defense turret
ship.

From the lesson of Hampton Koads the Navy Department at-
tempted one modification of a war vessel that was not especially
successful. In 1862 work was begun on the frigate Roanoke of cut-
ting her down as the Merrimac had been, and on the low deck re-
sulting three Ericsson turrets were fitted by the Novelty Iron Works,
New York. Although employed about a year in the North Atlantic
squadron, the modified Roanoke was not found satisfactory. The

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great weight of the three turrets made her rolling dangerous and the
hull was not found to be strong enough to properly carry them, the
thrust of the turret spindles on the keel when the turrets were being
keyed up for action always threatening to force out the bottom.

The twelve double-ended gunboats begun in 1861 proved so
useful that in the autumn of 1862 contracts were made for twenty-
seven others, considerably larger than the first lot. From the name
of one of these that became especially famous they came to be known
as the Sassacus class, their names being as follows: Agawam, Ascut-
ney, Chenango, Chicopee, Eirtaw, Iosco, Lenapee, Mackinaw, Massa-
soit, Mattabessett, Mendota, Metacomet, Mingoe, Osceola, Otsego, Paw-
tuxet, Peoria, Pontiac, Pontoosuc, Sassacus, Shamrock, Tacony,
Tallahoma, Tallapoosa, Wateree, Winooski, and Wyalusing. All
were built of wood with the exception of the Wateree, which was of
iron. Thej were all rated as of 974 tons burden. One other wooden
vessel of this class — the Algonquin — was delayed on account of con-
troversy as to the machinery to be fitted in her and was not put
under construction until March, 1863. A few of the hulls were built
at navy yards, but the majority of them and the machinery for all
were built by contract, the engineer-in- chief furnishing the machin-
ery designs except for the Algonquin. The Sassacus was built at the
navy yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Naval Constructor
Jsaiah Hanscom, and her machinery by the Atlantic Works, Boston.

Near the close of the year a class of small screw sloops, about 100
tons larger than the ninety-day gunboats, was begun at navy yards
and contracts let for their machinery. These were the Kansas,
Mawmee, Nipsia, Nyack, Pequot, Saco, Shaumut, and Yantic. With
the exception of the Kansas all were under construction by the 1st
of January, 1863.

Important changes in naval organization and administration
were brought about by Congressional action during the early part of
of the Civil War. During the special session of the 37th Congress
in the summer of 1861, to go a little back of the year with which
this chapter is dealing, an act, approved August 3, 1861, created a
naval retired list by providing that any officer of the navy who had
been forty years in the service of the United States might be retired
upon his own application; the same act provided that officers of the
navy found incapacitated for active service by reason of wounds or

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TfiE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNiTEt) STATES. 361

other disability incurred in the line of duty should be placed on the
retired list, and the officer next in rank promoted to the place of the
retired officer according to the established rules of the service.
Early in the first regular session of the same Congress, an act, ap-
proved December 21, 1861, made the retirement of naval officers
compulsory after forty-five years' service, or upon arriving at the
age of sixty-two. A number of old officers of the line and medical
corps were immediately retired in accordance with this legislation,
and it was due only to the presence on the active list of these
superannuated officers, unable to perform their duties in time of war,
and at the same time deserving of all consideration for past services,
that the navy received the inestimable, though deserved, gift of the
retired list.

An act to reorganize the Navy Department was approved July
5th, 1862, which created the Bureau of Steam Engineering as a sep-
arate executive branch of the department' and provided that the chief
of that bureau should be a skillful engineer selected from the list of
chief engineers of the navy. The same act created the present bureaus
of Navigation, Equipment, and Construction, the two last named
and the bureau of steam engineering being obtained by dividing up
the old bureau of Construction, Equipment and Eepair, the business
of which under the demands of war having grown to the extent of
making its division a business necessity.

The present schedule of pensions for disability incurred in the
naval service was established by an act of Congress approved July
16th, 1862. Other acts approved the same day directed the trans-
fer of the western gunboat fleet built by the "War Department to the
Navy Department, and reorgnized the grades of line officers of the
navy; the last act referred to added the grades of commodore and
rear admiral to the line establishment and created within it the ad-
ditional grades of lieutenant- commander and ensign. A new pay
table was also established.

CHAPTER XXI.

" When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions."

— Hamlet; Act IV. sc. 5.

186a— The Civil War Continued— Disasters at Galveston— Loss of the Columbia—
Raid of Rebel Rams off Charleston— Loss of the Isaac Smith*— The Florida,
and Her Pursuit by the Sonoma — Investment of Washington, North Carolina
— Assembling oi Ironclads off Charleston— Remarkable Breakdown and Repairs
to the Machinery of the Weehawken — Attack on Fort McAllister— First Attack
on Fort Sumter — Destruction of the Keokuk — The AtlantarWeehawken Duel
—Protracted Investment of the Charleston Forts by the Monitors— Sinking of
the Weehawken.

NAVAL operations during the year 1863 were conducted on a
greater scale than before and were in the main successful,
the enemy's coasts being more rigorously invested and the lines of
the blockade made more and more impassable. A number of mis-
fortunes to vessels engaged in more or less important undertak-
ings which occurred with considerable regularity from month to
month served, however, in connection with the first unfortunate
demonstration of the ironclads at Charleston, to distract public
attention from the real service being done by the navy and to
give the general impression that the operations of that arm for
the year were largely unsuccessful.

The series of disasters to the navy began the first day of the
new year with an extremely humiliating affair at Galveston, Texas.
That place was in partial possession of the Union forces and was
occupied by 260 men of the 42d regiment, Massachusetts volun-
teer infantry, camped on a wharf, a blockade of the approaches to
the harbor being maintained to seaward by the steamers Westfidd,
Clifton, Harriet Lome, Owasco, and Sachem, and the schooner
Coryjpheus. About 3 a. m. the morning of January first a large
force of Confederates appeared in the town and made an attack
upon the soldiers on the wharf, the latter being supported by
the fire from some of the vessels lying nearest to them. At dawn
two large river steamers crowded with troops and well protected by

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 363

barricades of cotton bales attacked the Harriet Zcme, or rather
were attacked by her, she being under way at the time and moving
up into range of the fight going on ashore, and effected her capture
by boarding in overwhelming numbers. Her captain, Commander
J. M. Wainwright, and Lieutenant Commander Edward Lee, were
both killed, as were also three enlisted men, and fifteen people were
wounded, the survivors of the ship's company, amounting to about
one hundred, being made prisoners of war. The officers of the en-
gineer corps who fell into the hands of the enemy on this occasion
were M. H. Plunkett, second assistant engineer; C. H. Stone, sec-
ond assistant engineer; and John E. Cooper, K. N. Ellis and
A. T. E. Mullen, third assistant engineers.

An interesting incident illustrative of considerate forethought
under trying conditions is related of Assistant Engineer Mullen on
this occasion. After Commander Wainwright had been killed and
the loss of the ship appeared inevitable, Mr. Mullen threw away his
own sword and put on that of the captain with the hope of preserving
it for Wainwright's relatives; a most generous undertaking which is
said to have been successful, as it was a custom on both sides to re-
turn side-arms to captured officers after their surrender was com-
plete.

The gunboat Owasco went to the relief of the Harriet Lame
but was driven off by an incessant musketry fire to which she could
make scarcely any reply, the narrowness of the channel preventing
her from getting into a position to use her guns. She had fifteen
men killed and wounded. Her experience deterred the Clifton from
making the same attempt and that vessel's fire was accordingly
directed against the shore batteries. The Westfield, lying a consider-
able distance out, had got underway and gone hard and fast aground
early in the morning when the first movement of the enemy's steam-
ers had been observed. About 7:30 a. m. a Confederate officer
bearing a flag of truce boarded the Clifton and informed her com-
mander that the Massachusetts troops and the Harriet Lane had sur-
rendered and that the steamers, three more of which had appeared,
were about to move upon and overwhelm the Federal vessels in
detail. As an alternative he proposed the surrender of all the Federal
vessels but one, which would be allowed to leave the harbor with tbe
crews of all.

3lH THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Lieutenant Commander Law of the Clifton did not favor this
proposal, but agreed to carry it to Commander Kenshaw of the West-
field, the senior officer present, it being promised that the flags of
truce should fly for three hours to give him time to go and return.
Commander Kenshaw of course refused to accept the terms and or-
dered Law back to his ship with instructions to get the vessels under
way and take them out of the harbor at all hazards, saying also
that as the Westfield could not be floated he would blow her up and
escape with her crew in the army transport Saxon lying near him.
Finding upon his return to the Clifton, that the enemy had made
many changes to their advantage in the position of their steamers
and batteries, Law. felt under no obligation to observe the truce and
immediately got under way with all the vessels and went out of the
harbor under a heavy fixe, abandoning the blockade for the time
being by going to New Orleans. Two barks laden with coal for the
steamers were left behind and fell into the enemy's possession with
the Harriet Lane.

Through some terrible blunder in firing the Westfield her maga-
zine blew up before the people were out of her with the result that
fourteen persons were killed and sixteen wounded, among the killed
being commander William B. Kenshaw; Lieutenant C. W. Zimmer-
man, and Acting Second Assistant Engineer "William K. Greene, the
senior engineer of the ship. Mr. Greene had acquired an excellent
reputation for professional and personal worth and his untimely
taking off was a source of much regret in the corps. In July of the
previous year when the Westfield was employed in the operations
about Vicksburg, Commander Kenshaw had reported to the Depart-
ment in the following highly favorable terms regarding him: "The
engineer in charge, Mr. William K. Greene, with his assistants,
Messrs. George S. Baker and Charles Smith, have been untiring in
their exertions to keep the engine in repair, and have exercised so
much judgment and care that since leaving the United States there
has never been a day that the machinery has not been in perfect
working order."

The Confederates recovered the large main shaft of the West-
field from the wreck and manufactured from it a 60-pounder rifled
gun. This in due course of time found its way to the Annapolis
Naval Academy and has rested in the grass of the gun-park there
for many years as a trophy of war.

I <

T1IE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 367

Immediately after the arrival of the Clifton at New Orleans
with the news of the disaster at Galveston, Admiral Farragut sent
Commodore Bell with the Brooklyn and six gunboats to re-estab-
lish the blockade off that port. The afternoon of January 11th a
strange sail was seen off Galveston and the iron steamer Hatteras,
Lieutenant Commander H. C. Blake, was sent in pursuit. After
running from the Hatteras until dark, the stranger ceased steaming
and allowed her pursuer to approach close alongside, replying to
the hail that she was " Her Britannic Majesty's ship Fia^ra. " The
Hatteras lowered a boat to board her, when she suddenly fired a
broadside at point blank range, accompanying it with the announce-
ment that she was the Confederate steamer Alabama. The Hat-
teras returned the fire at once and for several minutes a sharp fight
ensued, in which the Federal vessel was speedily disabled. She
was a commercial steamer originally named St. Mary, purchased
in Philadelphia in 1861 for $110,000, and was wholly unfit for a
contest with a regularly built vessel of war. Her overhead walking
beam was shot away immediately and another shot struck and de-
stroyed the main engine cylinder, either of which blows was suffi-
cient to deprive the ship of her motive power and prevented her
commander from carrying out his intention of closing with the Ala-
bama and boarding her. Shells striking the Hatteras near the water
line tore off whole sheets of iron and caused her to fill as rapidly as
a perforated tin pan. In this fatal predicament she surrendered
and her crew was taken off by the victors, who had barely time to
save them before the Hatteras sank. The boat's crew that had
been called away to board the stranger escaped and carried the news
of the disaster to Galveston.

In this engagement the Hatteras had two men, both firemen,
killed and five wounded. The prisoners were taken to Kingston
Jamaica, all except the officers being kept in irons on the voyage of
nine days to that place. At Kingston they were put on the beach
jn a most pitiable condition without money or adequate clothing,
having lost everything they owned in the Hatteras. In spite of
their unfortunate condition the treatment accorded them by the
British residents of Kingston was such as to cause the following
comment to appear in the report of Lieutenant Commander Blake:
<« Landed on an unfriendly shore, in a state of abject destitutioHj

THE STKAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

that should have commanded the sympathy of avowed enemies, we
felt keenly the unkind criticisms of those who profess to have no
dislike for our government or its people. ' ' The engineers of the
Hdtteras who shared in the resulting hardships were Acting First
Assistant A. M. Covert, and acting third assistants Jos. 0. Cree,
Jacob Colp and Benjamin C. Bourne.

On the evening of the 14th of January, the steamer Cohmtbiat
a purchased vessel attached to the North Atlantic Blockading
Squadron, while on duty off Marlboro Inlet, North Carolina, got
ashore on an unknown bar. The gunboat Penobscot went to her aid
the following day and succeeded in taking off about thirty of her
crew by means of a surf-line, but night coming on and the sea in-
creasing compelled the abandonment of the effort at rescue. The
second day the enemy mounted some guns on the shore and opened
a heavy fire on the distressed vessel, then practically a wreck,
which forced her to surrender; the commander, Acting Lieutenant
J. P. Couthouy, with his remaining officers and men going on shore
and delivering themselves up as prisoners of war after having
spiked and thrown overboard the battery. The wreck was burned
by the captors. The officers all belonged to the volunteer service
and included George M. Bennett, first assistant engineer ; W. W.
Shipman and Samuel Lemon, second assistants, and J. H. Pelton
and W. H. Crawford, third assistants. They were confined first at
Salisbury, North Carolina, and later in Libby prison until May 5th,
when they were sent north for exchange. The surgeon, by some
curious mental operation on the part of the Confederates, was de-
clared a " non-combatant " and was released on parole, but it did
not occur to anyone that the paymaster and engineers were entitled
to like consideration. Perhaps in an actual state of war there was
no doubt about their military status.

Early in the morning of January 29th, the British steamer
Princess Royal, from Halifax by way of Bermuda, attempted to run
the blockade off Charleston and nearly succeeded, being headed off
at the last moment by the gunboat Unadilla, whose shots forced the
captain of the blockade runner to run his ship ashore. Acting
Master Yan Sice and Third assistant Engineer K. H. Thurston with
two armed boat-crews took possession of the prize and labored all
day of the 29th in lightening her preparatory to hauling her off,

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 369

'which was accomplished about dark by the combined efforts of her
own engines and those of the light-draft vessels of the squadron.
When afloat, the prize was anchored close to the Housatonic, acting
as flagship in the absence of the Powhatan and Canandaigua gone to
Port Koyal for coal, and preparations were carried forward for send-
ing her north with a prize crew. The Princess Royal had a very
valuable cargo of rifled guns and marine engines for some Confed-
erate rams building at Charleston; a great quantity of shoes for the
army, small arms, armor plates, medicines, canned provisions, hos-
pital stores, etc. , all worth many times their money value to the
Confederacy. When adjudicated in the prize court at Philadel-
phia the sum of $342,005.31 was declared available for distribution,
shares of which made some of the officers of the Unadilla almost
wealthy. The vessel had powerful engines with two cylinders 49
inches diameter and 39 inches stroke, geared to the screw shaft in
the ratio of five to two. She was converted into a gun vessel and
performed excellent duty on the blockade during the remainder of
the war.

While the people of the Unadilla and the fleet were exerting
themselves to get the Princess Royal afloat, the Confederates were
making equally strenuous efforts to prevent it, horses and men in
large numbers being engaged throughout the day in dragging Biege
guns from Fort Moultrie through the sands of Sullivan's Island into
a position to fire upon the stranded steamer, but about the time their
battery opened fire she was floated and taken out of range. Baffled
in this attempt, they made on the morning of the 31st, the Princess
Royal still lying by the Housatonic, a most desperate effort to wrest
her from her captors. At 4 a. m. two rams — the Chicora and Pal-
metto State — came down from Charleston and about daylight assailed
the blockading squadron, superior to them in numbers in about the
proportion of four to one. Without any desire to detract from the
gallantry of this attack, it should be stated that with the exception
of the Housatonic and Unadilla the blockaders in the vicinity were
all purchased merchant vessels wholly unfit for fighting at close
quarters, their unsuitability being fully demonstrated by the event.

The Federal vessels were lying at wide intervale apart, a cir-
cumstance that further reduced the seeming disparity in force, and
owing to the morning mist that lay over the water did not discover

S70 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

the approach of the enemy until he was close aboard. The first ves-
sel attacked was the Mercedita, a purchased screw-steamer of about
800 tons that had cost $100,000 in 1861. She was struck a glanc-
ing blow on the starboard quarter by one of the rams and at the
same time was disabled by a heavy rifle shell which passed diagonally
through her, penetrating the steam drum of the port boiler in its
passage and filling the ship with hot steam. The ram lay so low in
the water that the guns of the Mercedita could not be depressed to
bear upon her and the latter vessel, being thus both helpless and de-
fenseless, accepted the summons to surrender, the executive officer
going on board the ram and pledging his word of honor for the pa-
role of the crew. Nothing was said regarding the vessel and as she
was not taken possession of by the enemy she was retained in the
squadron after the fight was over. Her gunner, who was in his room
at the time, was killed by the shell, and she had three men killed
and three wounded by scalding; with the exception of one ordinary
seaman slightly scalded at the engine-room hatch these unfortunate
men all belonged to the watch on duty in the engine-room.

Leaving the Mercedita to her fate, to sink or not, the ram next
joined her consort in an attack upon the Keystone State, a large side-
wheel merchant steamer of nearly 1,400 tons that had cost $125,000
in 1861, and did her great damage with shells, one of which set her
on fire in the fore-hold and another exploded the steam chimneys
or drums of both boilers. About one-fourth of her crew was in-
stantly prostrated by the escaping steam, among them Assistant
Surgeon Gotwold who was scalded to death while in the act of render-
ing aid to the wounded; several men had been killed or wounded by
the shells and of the latter a number met death from the steam.
The total number of casualties was forty, of which twenty-six were
due to scalding. In this critical condition of the Keystone State her
captain, Commander (afterward Eear Admiral) William E. LeRoy,
ordered her flag hauled down in response to a summons to surrender,
resistance or flight being apparently impossible. The chief engineer,
Acting First Assistant Archibald K. Eddowes, did not stop the
engines at this juncture but hastened on deck and informed Com-
mander LeEoy that thr.y would run for fifteen or twenty minutes on
their vacuum and that that time should suffice to get out of the
enemy's reach or obtain assistance from other vessels already be-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 371

ginning to engage the rams. Upon this representation the captain
ordered the colors hoisted and the ship moved away from her assail-
ants, being soon taken in tow by the Memphis and in that manner
was saved to the United States government through the fidelity and
knowledge of her chief engineer.

Mr. Eddowes was subsequently promoted to be an acting chief
engineer and had the honor of serving for a time as chief engineer of
the big frigate Minnesota. Being in the volunteer service, he was
honorably discharged at the close of the war and disappeared from
naval cognizance for many years. In the summer of 1894 the hard
times compelled him to write to the Navy Department asking to be
admitted to the Naval Home in Philadelphia, his letter stating that
he was old, broken in health, out of employment, and homeless.
Although not eligible for admission to the institution mentioned
under a strict interpretation of the law, it is a gratifying fact that his
case was considered in a liberal manner and his prayer was granted.
Although now cared for in that manner, there remains in the story
an undercurrent painfully suggestive of the concluding lines of Mr.
Kipling's reproachful verses concerning the survivors of the charge
of the Light Brigade:

' ' O thirty million English that babble of England's might,
Behold, there are twenty heroes who lack their food to-night;
Our children's children are lisping 'to honor the charge they made,'
And we leave to the streets and the workhouse the charge of the Light Brigade. ' '

Besides the two vessels so badly used by the rams, the Qualer
City was considerably damaged by a shell exploding in her engine-
room, which fortunately did not kill anyone, and the Augusta also
received a shell through her side without loss of life. "While the
fight was in progress Mr. Thurston on the Princess Royal by almost
superhuman exertions got up steam from cold water and the vessel
was taken out seaward for safety. About 7.30 a. m. the Housatonic
and other vessels having reached the scene and attacked the rams,
they gave up the fight and retreated up the channel to the vicinity
of Fort Moultrie; late in the afternoon they got under way and re-
turned to Charleston.

•'It was this incident which led to the famous dispute in which
it was asserted by General Beauregard and Commodore Ingraham,

372 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

on the one side, that the blockade had been broken, and that, under
the accepted interpretation of international law, it could not be re-
established until after three months' notice,- that time at least being
thus permitted to free trade, by foreign nations, with the Southern
Confederacy; while, on the other hand, it was unanimously certi-
fied, by the officers of the National fleet, that, on the contrary, the
blockade had not been broken, the fleet had not been driven off,
and that it had only been the more closely drawn in around the
harbor of Charleston by the action with the iron-clads. This, which
was the finally accepted version of the affair, was certainly correct,
as those of us who were in the action well know. The whole affair
was over before breakfast, and at 9:30 a. m., our prize was on her
way to report to Admiral DuPont, at Fort Royal, convoyed by the
injured vessels, which were sent there for repair."1

On January 30th the purchased screw steamer Isaac Smith w 'as
sent up the Stono River, South Carolina, to make a reconnois-
sance. When near Legareville she was suddenly attacked by three
batteries of heavy guns concealed on the banks, and was soon com-
pelled to surrender, having been entirely disabled by getting a shot
through her steam drum. Before surrendering she had nine people
killed and sixteen wounded, the only officer killed being Acting
Second Assistant Engineer James S. Turner, who was struck in the
breast and thigh by pieces of shell. Acting Third Assistant En-
gineer Erastus Barry was wounded, as was also Acting Lieuten-
ant Conover, who was in command, and the paymaster, Mr.
F. C. Hills, the latter being in command of the powder divi-
sion. The survivors, including First Assistant Engineer Jacob
Tucker and Third Assistant William Ross, became prisoners of
war.

On the 15th of January the commerce-destroyer Florida ran
out from Mobile through the blockading fleet and entered upon a
devastating career in the waters of the West Indies, adding to the
terror already inspired by the known presence of the Alabama in
those waters. In September of the preceding year the Florida had
run into the port of Mobile past the blockade under circumstances
that made the exploit one of the most daring of any performed

»Dr. R. H. Thurston, in Cornell Magazine, March, 1890.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 373

afloat during the war. Built in Liverpool as a copy of a class of
gun-vessels in the British navy designed for swift despatch boats,
this vessel had proceded out to the West Indies late in the spring
of 1862 and had spent the summer of that year with a small and
disheartened crew wandering about from place to place trying to
procure men and equipments sufficient to allow her to enter upon
her intended mission of destruction against American commerce.
Eventually her commander, Maffitt, with oply about twenty men on
board fit for duty on account of the ravages of yellow fever, was
driven to the extremity of seeking a port in the Confederacy where
he could procure a crew and also acquire nationality for his vessel.
The Florida being exactly like some of the British gun-boats
cruising about the Gulf coast, Maffitt resolved to put on a bold
front and take the chances of a deliberate rush into the line of block -
aders in broad daylight, which desperate resolve was carried out the
afternoon of September 4th. The blockading squadron off Mobile
consisted of the Susquehanna, Oneida and about half a dozen gun-
boats, but it happened by mere chance that on the day of the
Florida's appearance all the steamers but the Oneida and Winona
were away from the immediate vicinity, having gone for coal or on
other errands in the neighborhood. The approach of the Florida
was not regarded with much suspicion, as her appearance and the
white English ensign she displayed made it reasonably certain that
she was a British gun-vessel that would stop and communicate ac-
cording to custom before proceeding through the lines. As she came
on with no slacking of speed, however, the Oneida already cleared
for action as required by regulation under the circumstances fired
three shots across her bow in rapid succession, and as these produced
no sign of her stopping a broadside was fired into her, followed by
a general cannonading from the Oneida and from the Winona and
gun-schooner Rachel Seamen some distance away. But the ruse
was successful ; the Florida had advanced so far and was running
at such speed that she passed on and was soon under the protection
of the guns of Fort Morgan, having received a "frightful mauling,"
to use Maffitt's own words, and lost twelve men in killed and
wounded. When thoroughly repaired, manned and equipped, she
came out in January, 1863 ; ran the blockade successfully, and
began her career as before mentioned.

374 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

A flying squadron commanded by Captain Wilkes of San
Jacinto fame was kept busy scouring the West Indies in search of
the commerce-destroyers. On the first day of February the double-
ender Sonorroa of this squadron, while near the southern end of that
body of water lying between Andros Island and Nassau known to
sailors as the Tongue of the Ocean, discovered a strange sail about
six miles to the northward and gave chase, the stranger being identified
when examined with the marine glasses as the much-sought-for
Florida. The pursuit was kept up with varying prospects of success
for thirty-four hours, during which time no one on the Sonoma slept
nor ate a regular meal ; after traversing the length of the Tongue of
the Ocean and the Providence Channel the pursued vessel stood out
on a northeast course into the open sea, where her superior sea
qualities enabled her to draw away from the Sonoma and escape.
The episode is not especially important except for an engineering
question involved, which is the reason for its introduction.

The chief engineer of the Sonoma was Acting First Assistant
Engineer Henry E. Rhoades who demonstrated his capability and
zeal as an engineer by remaining on duty continuously during the
chase and urging the boilers to their utmost capacity under forced
draft, even going to the extent of burning hams and bacon to add
to the fierceness of the fires. That he was able to keep a vessel like
the Sonoma for more than thirty hours close astern of the Florida,
built with special reference to speed, is sufficient proof of his ability as
an engineer, although in doing it he well knew that he was inflicting
fatal injury upon his own machinery. The commanding officer of
the Sonoma, Commander T. H. Stevens, published in the Cosmopo-
litan Magazine for December, 1890, a very interesting account of
this chase, from which narrative the following extracts are made:
"Orders were at once given to the engineer to make all possible
steam, the sails were cast loose, and the Sonoma sprung ahead in
pursuit." . . . "Renewed orders were given to the engineer to
crowd all steam and use every possible effort to increase the steam
by the use of blowers or through any other means." ... " Two
or three times the engineer reported that the extreme pressure upon
the boilers if kept up would cause an explosion, to which reply was
finally made, ' Your duty is to obey orders, mine to capture or de-
stroy the Florida at any risk."

THE STEAM NAVY OK THE UNITED STATES. 375

This latter sentiment is an eminently proper one from a mili-
tary standpoint, for more than one commander or final judge of ex-
pedients in a camp or on board an armed vessel can only result in
confusion and failure through crossing of authority, but the principle
should in all cases be double-acting to the extent of holding the
determining authority alone responsible for the results of his judg-
ment, both in success and failure. The last reference to the /Sonoma
in the magazine article from which quotations have been made
says : " Shortly afterward, upon receiving orders to take the Sonoma
to New York, we proceeded thither and immediately after our arrival
there the vessel was put out of commission. The long chase of the
Florida made extensive repairs essential. " The vessel arrived at
New York about the middle of June and a survey showed that her
cylinder had been damaged by overwork and that her boiler tubes
were so nearly burned out that they would have to be entirely
renewed. The story is concluded by the following letter sent to Mr.
Rhoades under date of July 25th : " Sir : A report of the examina-
tion of the machinery of the gunboat Sonoma shows that it has been
seriously injured in consequence of your neglect of duty. You are
therefore dismissed the service, and will, from this date, cease to be
regarded as an Acting First Assistant Engineer in the navy.

Yery respectfully,
Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy."

The town of Washington some distance up the Pamlico River
from Pamlico Sound had been taken and occupied by the Federal
naval force in the North Carolina Sounds since early in 1862. Dur-
ing the first two weeks of April, 1863, the enemy cut off water com-
munication by occupying some works below the town and made a
determined though unsuccessful attempt to recapture it, the two or
three naval vessels thus cut oft being forced to severe and prolonged
exertions to retain possession of the place and preserve themselves.
The following extracts from official reports regarding the investment
refer to valuable services performed by members of the engineer
corps.

From the report of Acting Bear Admiral S. P. Lee :

"The Louisiana, Commodore Hull, and an armed transport

376 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

called the Eagle, under charge of Second Assistant Engineer Lay and
Paymaster W. W. Williams, of the Louisiana, as volunteers, were
almost constantly engaged with the enemy's batteries opposite Wash-
ington."

"... Acting Second Assistant Engineer H. Rafferty, Acting
Third Assistant Engineer John E. Harper, ... are recommended
to especial notice for their good conduct and bravery in battle."

From the report of Commander E. T. Kenshaw of the Louisiana:

" Second Assistant Engineer John L. Lay and Assistant Pay-
master W. W. Williams volunteering to take charge of the guns on
board transport Eagle, I directed them to do so; they have done good
service,and acted to my entire satisfaction."

"Acting Third Assistant Engineer Thomas Mallahan, of the
Ceres, while attempting to land in one of her boats, was killed by a
musket ball."

From the report of Acting Lieutenant Graves of the Lockwood:

" Late in the afternoon my boiler commenced leaking to such
an extent as to put out the fires. I ordered the engineers to blow
out the water and repair it temporarily with all possible despatch,
and my thanks are due to Acting Second Assistant Engineer J. T.
Newton and and Acting Third Assistant John I. Miller for the
energy and promptness they displayed in complying with my orders.
At 9 p. m. had steam again."

As early as May, 1862, the Navy Department had informed
Flag Officer DuPont confidentially of its intention to attempt the
capture of Charleston, and in January, 1863, orders were sent to
him to carry the plan into execution, the iron-clads as fast as com-
pleted being ordered to report to him for the undertaking. One of
the first to arrive, the Montauk, Captain John L. Worden, distin-
guished herself the 28th of February by going under the guns
of Fort McAllister in the Ogeechee River and destroying with her

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 377

shells the Confederate steamer Nashville which had been discovered

aground about 1,200 yards up the river, the Montauk receiving a

severe fire from the fort without material damage while shelling the

Nashville. On the third of March, DuPont, to test the mechanical

appliances of the monitors and give the men practice in firing the

guns, sent the Passaic, Patapsco and Nahantto attack Fort McAllister.

The monitors stood the test well and received no serious damage

beyond dents in the turrets and side armor, while the few defects in

turret turning mechanism, gun mounts and machinery that existed

were discovered and remedied. The Weehawken while on her way

to join the fleet broke down February 7th off Port Royal and was

completely disabled. The trunk of one of her engines broke short
off at the piston, canting the latter to the extent of cracking the

cylinder beyond repair. It happened that the cylinders of the
Comanche were completed in Jersey City and were made from the
same patterns and in the same shop where the Weehawken was built
so by use of the telegraph and the chartering of a vessel the cylinders
of the latter with all their attachments were hastened to Port Royal
and installed in the disabled vessel in a remarkably short space of
time.

On the 7th of April DuPont made an unsuccessful attack upon
Fort Sumter with the New Ironsides, Montauk, Weehawken, Cats-
kill, Passaic, Nahant, Patapsco, Nantucket and Keokuk. The iron-
clads were in action less than two hours and were then withdrawn

by signal from the flagship. A quartermaster was killed in the pilot
house of the Nahant by a flying piece of bolt from the armor and
Commander Downes and five others were injured in the same manner
on that vessel. The Keokuk with her curious striped armor fared
badly, being struck ninety times in thirty minutes and pierced through
at and about the water-line nineteen times, while her turret was
penetrated and the ship generally riddled. Fifteen of her crew were
wounded, some of them seriously. She was kept afloat during the
ensuing night, but when the water became rough in the morning she
sank, her people being taken off just in time to save their lives.
Rear Admiral DuPont made a discouraging report to the Navy
Department respecting the monitors, and Chief Engineer Stimers,
who had been sent down from New York with a company of
machinists and ship-smiths to repair injuries to the iron-clads,

378 THE STEAM NAVY OV THE UNITED STATES.

reported very favorably regarding them, the two reports being tlie
beginning of a famous controversy that will be dealt with in a
separate chaptei.

The iron-clads did not again engage the Charleston forts while
nnder DuPont's command, but in June an event took place that did
much to redeem the reputation of the monitors. In JSoveuiber,
1861, an English iron steamer named Fingal ran the blockade into
Savannah and after discharging her cargo was sold to the Confederate
government and converted into an armored vessel of war by altera-
tions practically the same as those adopted in the case of the
Merrimac, with the addition of a heavy armor belt of timber about
the water-line and a torpedo spar fitted on the bow. She was armed
with two 6^jj- inch and two 7 inch Brooke rifles, the latter pivoted
for bow and stern as well as broadside fire, and had a crew of one
hundred and forty-five officers and men. These preparations con-
sumed much time and it was not until 1863 that she was ready for
service, the blockaders in the meanwhile having maintained a vigilant
watch over all channels whereby she might get to sea. In June it
became definitely known that the Atlanta, as the Fingal had been
re-named, had crossed over into Wassaw Sound south of Savannah
and might be expected to make a raid on the blockaders thereabouts.
The double-ender Oimmerone being the only vessel just then off
Wassaw Sound, Admiral DuPont immediately despatched thither the
monitors Weehawken and Nahant, the senior officer being sturdy
John Rodgers in the Weeliawken.

Early in the morning of June 17th, the anniversary of Bunker
Hill, the Atlanta came down to give battle to the monitors, being
accompanied by two steamers said to have been filled with excursion-
ists expecting to witness an easy victory. Owing to the narrowness of
the channel the Nahant, having no pilot, had to follow the Weehawken
and was unable to fire a gun in the action which ensued. At 4. 55 a.
m. the Atlanta opened fire without effect, which was not returned
until twenty minutes later when Rodgers with deliberate precision
began using the Weehawken's guns, one of which was a Xl-inch like
those of the original Monitor, and the other a XV-inch. In fifteen
minutes the Atlanta, then aground and badly damaged, hauled down
her colors and surrendered. Four of the five shots fired from the
Weehawken had struck her. one of the XV-inch, the first fired, having

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNTTED STATEa 379

broken through the armor and wood backing, strewed the gun-deck
with splinters and prostrated forty men by the concussion, one of
whom died : the other XY-inch shot knocked off the top of the
pilot house and disabled both pilots and the man at the wheel, which
accounts for the vessel going aground. One of the Xl-inch shots
did no damage beyond breaking a plate or two at the knuckle, but
the other one carried away a port-shutter and scattered its fragments
about the gun-deck. Lieutenant Commander .D. B. Harmony of the
Nahant was put in charge with a prize crew, Acting First Assistant
Engineer J. G. Young of the Weehawken taking charge of the en-
gines. The prize was found fully equipped with ammunition and
stores for a cruise and was appraised as follows by a board of naval
officers:

Hull 5250,000.00

Machinery 80,000.00

Ordnance, ordnance stores &c 14,02291

Medical stores s 20.00

Provisions, clothing and small stores I,012.h5

Equipments and stores in the master's, boatswain's, sailmaker's, and car-
penter's departments 5,773.50

Total valuation $350,829.2f>

The above amount, less $789.30 costs of trial, was subsequently
declared by the prize court as available for distribution.

Three hours after the surrender the engine of the Atlanta was
reversed by engineer Young and the vessel backed off into deep
water, proceeding later under her own steam without convoy to Port
Royal where she was repaired and enrolled in the naval service of
the United States. Captain Eodgers' report of the engagement con-
tains the following: " The engine, under the direction of First
Assistant Engineer James G. Young, always in beautiful order, was
well worked. Mr. Young has, I hope, by his participation in this
action, won the promotion for which, on account of his skill and
valuable services, I have already recommended him." On the 5th
of July Mr. Young received his promotion to the grade of acting
chief engineer.

The outline sketches of the Atlanta here following are repro-
duced from drawings made at the time of her capture by Second

380

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Assistant Engineer P. E. Voorhees of the Wabash, and were for-
warded as part of the official report of the capture. In a general
way they serve to illustrate the type of armored vessels which lack of
iron building material forced the constructors and engineers of the
South to resort to.

/^a rsa

_tfa.tk>-

tint,

Confeuekatis Iron-Clad Atlanta, captured by the WeehawTcen.
Enlarged section on A-B showing framing, wooden armor, etc.

Kear Admiral John A. Dahlgren relieved Eear Admiral Du-
Pont on the 6th of July and immediately began a determined and
prolonged struggle, in conjunction with the army, for the possession
of Charleston Harbor, partial success being achieved by the capture
of Morris Island and its formidable fort, Wagner, on the 6th of
September. Fort Sumter was steadily assailed for months and by
the end of the year was little more than a heap of ruins, though the
enemy retained possession of it. A noteworthy casualty of the siege

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 381

occurred on the Catskill while engaged with Fort Wagner on the
17th of August. A shot from the fort struck the top of the pilot-
house and shattered the inner lining of it, pieces of which killed
Commander George W. Eodgers and Assistant Paymaster J. G.
Woodbury, and wounded a pilot and a master's mate, all of whom
were in the pilot-house. It is claimed by the friends of the monitor
type of ships that these two unfortunate officers and the quarter-
master killed on the Nahwnt were the only persons who were killed
on the monitors by cannon fire during the whole course of the war.
The constant employment of the monitors during these months of
siege entailed much hard work and suffering upon the engine-room
force, the reports of commanding officers containing frequent
reference to a prostration of engineers and firemen from the
intense heat of their stations.

Immediately after the evacuation of Morris Island by the enemy
an unsuccessful attempt was made to take Sumter by assault, a land-
ing party of about four hundred men from the fleet being sent on
shore the night of September 8th for that purpose. While landing
from the boats a number of casualties occured from the enemy's fire
and the party was driven off after a sharp fight with the loss of about
one hundred and twenty officers and men made prisoners, Third
Assistant Engineer J. H. Harmony of the Housatonic being one of
the latter. The night of October 5th a most daring attempt to blow up
the New Irormdes was made by Lieutenant Glassell, Assistant
Engineer Toombs, and a pilot, who went out to her in a small and
almost submerged cigar-shaped craft and exploded a torpedo close
alongside the big iron-clad. The explosion started some beams and
knees in the side of the iron-clad but did no serious injury. A mass
of water fell upon the deck and also extinguished the fires of her
assailant. Lieutenant Glassell took to the water and was captured;
the engineer and pilot stuck to their disabled boat and afterward got
up steam and returned to Charleston the same night. For this Mr.
Toombs was made a chief engineer.

In the operations of this protracted seige the resisting and
aggressive qualities of the monitors were well tested and demon-
strated. An idea of the hard knocks they gave and took during the
summer may be gained from the following tabular statement of their
services, as reported to the department by Admiral Dahlgren:

382

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

NUMBER SHOTS

FIRED
JULY 10-SEPT7,

1863.

HITS.

HITS, APKIL 7;

FIRST ATTACK

SUMTER.

HITS AX
FT. MCALLISTER.

iv in.

xi in.

Catskill

138
301

41
119
170
178
264

425
478
28
107
276
:30
633
155
4,439

154

134

164

35
36
47
53
51

Lehigh

Passaic

Weehawken

Totals

1,255

6,771

882

256

The limited operations of the Lehigh were due to the fact that
she did not arrive at Charleston until August 30, and consequently
was engaged only about a week of the period dealt with.

About the middle of the afternoon of Sunday , December 6, the
Weehwwken sank at her anchorage off Morris Island. The cause of
this disaster as determined by a court of inquiry appears to have
been altering her trim by stowing an unusual quantity of shot and
shell in the bow compartments and leaving the forward hatch open
when water was breaking on board. Ordinarily all water ran aft
and was thrown out by the pumps in the engine-room, but with the
changed trim this did not occur until a large quantity of water had
accumulated forward, bringing her more and more down by the
head, and rapidly increasing through new leaks started by the
unusually heavy load forward. This condition was not discovered
until ten or fifteen minutes before she sank, and the desperate
attempts then made to relieve her were unavailing; her limit of
buoyancy, which was only 125 tons, was reached before the pumps
began gaining on the water, and she went down. Four officers and
twenty-six men perished in her, the entire watch on duty in the
engine and fire-rooms being lost. The four officers drowned were
all third assistant engineers — Messrs. Henry W. Merian; Augustus
Mitchell;"' George W. McGowan, and Charles Spangberg. Two of
these were on duty and the other two heroically went to the engine-
room to try to render assistance instead of saving themselves, as

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 383

they might have done. The engineer in charge, Mr. J. B. A.
Allen, acting second assistant, whose duties obliged him to go on
deck at intervals to report to the executive officer, was saved.

CHAPTEK XXII.

" For Southern prisons will sometimes yawn,
And yield their dead unto life again;
And the day that comes with a cloudy dawn
In golden glory at last may wane."

Kate Putnam Osgood.

1863 — The Civil War, Continued — The War on the Western Waters — Passage
of Port Hudson — Destruction of the Frigate Mississippi — Minor Opera-
tions in the West — New Vessels Placed Under Construction — The Light-
Draft Monitors — Iron Double-Enders — Large Wooden Frigates and Sloops-
of- War— The First Swift Cruisers — The Kalamazoo Class of Monitors-
Assimilated Rank of Staff Officers Raised — New Regulations Governing
Promotion in the Engineer Corps Issued.

THE naval force in 1863 on the western rivers was engaged in a
ceaseless and baffling warfare under conditions that were very
difficult and often disheartning. Great annoyance was experienced
from the development by the Confederates of the torpedo, and another
danger, equally unassailable, existed in the guerrillas or "bush-
whackers " who infested the swamps and forests along the river
banks in such unseen numbers that no man's life was safe on a pass-
ing steamer. David D. Porter, still a commander, but holding an
acting appointment as rear admiral, was now in general command of
the Mississippi fleet, which had been increased by a number of regu-
larly built war vessels in addition to the mortar boats and make-shifts
previously spoken of. On the 4th of July Porter was commissioned
a rear admiral in recognition of his services before Vicksburg, which
place succumbed to the combined army and naval forces on that
date. Besides Porter's fleet, vessels of Farragut's West Gulf block-
ading squadron also operated in the river, the most noteworthy battle
of the year in this region being fought by a division of that
squadron.

The night of March 14-15 Farragut attempted to run past the
formidable batteries at Port Hudson, Louisiana, his object in wish-
ing to get above them being to cut off the enemy's supplies from
the Ked River region and also to recover if possible the iron-clad

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 385

casemated gunboat Indianola, which had been captured by four
Confederate steamers on February 24th. Farragut's fleet consisted
of his flagship Hartford, three large ships and three gunboats. To
provide for keeping the large vessels going ahead in case of injury
to their machinery they were each ordered to lash a gunboat along-
side on their port sides, that being away from Port Hudson which
is located on the east side of the river. The Mississippi had no
consort; not from any sentiment that the old sea-veteran could
fight her battles better alone, but because there was no gunboat for
her and her overhanging paddle-boxes would have made the arrange-
ment difficult if not impossible had there been another gunboat
available. The iron-clad Essex and some mortar boats of Porter's
fleet were also present and did good service bombarding the forts,
as they had done before at the forts below New Orleans.'

Shortly before midnight the squadron moved up the river and
received a terrible fire from the batteries on shore, the ships being
brought into bold relief by the light of burning buildings and bon-
fires on the banks. Farragut in the Hartford, with the Albatross
lashed alongside, succeeded in running the batteries and gained a
position in the river above, but all the other vessels failed in the
attempt. The Monongahda grounded on a spit in front of the
principal battery and for half an hour was a stationary target for a
most severe fire which killed six and wounded twenty-one of her
crew, Captain McKinstry being among the wounded. Her escape
from this almost fatal predicament was due largely to the exertions
and courage of her chief engineer, Mr. George F. Kutz, and his
assistants, the senior one of whom was Mr. Joseph Trilley, now a
chief engineer in the navy. To work the engines to their utmost
in the endeavor to back off, these officers took the desperate risk of
doubling the steam pressure in the boilers and with the added
power thus obtained and ^he assistance of the consort Kvneo the
ship was finally floated. This extraordinary power worked through
the engines resulted in heating the forward crank pin, the brasses
of which were slacked off during a momentary stop, and the engines
thereafter kept running at full speed by playing a stream of water
from the fire hose on the hot pin until the ship was off the bottom.
By that time the pin was so burned and cut that the engines were
disabled and the Monongahda and Emeo had to drop down the

386 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

river out of action. While the engineers were struggling with the
crank-pin adjustment an 80-pounder rifle shot came into the engine-
room and broke into pieces by striking the end of the reversing shaft.

The reports made by the commanding and executive 'officers
ascribed the failure of the Monongahela to get past the batteries to
the failure of the engines, but Chief Engineer Kutz was able to
prove to the satisfaction of Admiral Farragut that the casualty to
the engines occurred while unusual exertions were being made to
back off the spit, and not after the vessel was again afloat, as had
been charged.

The Mississippi following astern of the Monongahela also went
aground and for thirty-five minutes made heroic endeavors to get
off and escape from the galling cross fire of three batteries concen-
trated upon her. The chief engineer, Mr. Wm. H. Rutherford,
increased the steam pressure from thirteen to twenty-five pounds
and backed the engines with all their power without avail. The
fire of the enemy finally became so accurate and deadly that Cap-
tain Melancthon Smith deemed it "most judicious and humane,"
as he expressed it in his report, to abandon the vessel, and then
followed a task that must have been most repugnant to those who
loved the old ship and respected her historical associations. Her
battery was spiked; the small arms thrown overboard; the engineers
and their men broke and destroyed the vital parts of the machinery,
fires were kindled in several places between decks, and after the
sick and wounded were brought up the ship was left to her fate.
Sixty-four of her crew were reported killed and missing and two
hundred and thirty-three as saved, a number of the latter being
wounded from the enemy's fire, among them Mr. J. E. Fallon,
third assistant engineer. In this disaster and its sequence Third
Assistant Engineer Jefferson Brown was the subject of one of those
incidents of resurrection from supposed death which occurred a
number of times during the Civil War and turned mourning iuto
rejoicing for a number of families both North and South. Mr.
Brown was reported drowned when the Mississippi was lost, and in
collecting material for this book the writer found his name still in-
scribed in the list of the dead in the casualty-book of the rebellion
kept by the bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department.
Some months after the disaster, when an exchange of prisoners was

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 387

effected, Mr. Brown appeared among the captives given np, and has
lived to be at present a chief engineer on the retired list of the
navy.

The following spirited description of the final scene in the
career of the Mississippi is taken from a paper read before the Dis-
trict of Columbia Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal
Legion by Chief Engineer Harrie Webster, U. S. Navy, who as an
assistant engineer on board the Genesee witnessed the tragedy.

"As the smoke slowly drifted to leeward we caught sight of the
old frigate Mississippi, hard and fast aground, apparently aban-
doned, and on fire.

' 'When we first discovered her the fire was already crawling up
the rigging.

"From every hatch the flames were surging heavenward, and
it seemed but a question of minutes when the good old ship must
blow up.

"Every mast, spar, and rope was outlined against the dark
background of forest and sky, and it was a sad, and at the same
time, a beautiful spectacle.

"While all hands were speculating on the causes of the
disaster the staunch old craft, which had braved the gales of every
clime, slowly floated free from the bank, and, turned by an eddy in
the current, swept out into the river and headed for the fleet as
though under helmsman's control.

• 'As the burning ship neared the ships at anchor in her path,
her guns, heated by the flames, opened fire, one after another in
orderly sequence, and as their breechings had been burned away
the recoil carried them amidships, where, crashing through the
weakened deck, they fell into the fiery depths, showers of sparks
and fresh flames following the plunge.

"Fortunately for us, her guns had been trained on the bluffs,
so her shots flew wide of the fleet and sped crashing into the forest
below the batteries of Port Hudson.

"Majestically, as though inspired with victory, the ship, which
by this time was a mass of fire from stem to stern, from truck to
water-line, floated past the fleet, down past Profit's Island, down
into the darkness of the night.

388 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Suddenly, as if by magic, her masts shot into the air all
ablaze, a tremendous tongue of flame pierced the sky for an instant,
and amid the muffled thunder of her exploded magazine the
Mississippi disappeared in the stream whose name she had borne so
bravely and so long. ' '

The Richmond, with the Genesee alongside, was the second in
line following the flagship, and was disabled at the turning point in
the river opposite the batteries by a shot carrying away both her
safety valves and letting off the steam, which obliged her to drop
down stream, the Genesee being unable to carry her up against the
strong current. She had three men killed and twelve wounded, the
majority of the casualties occurring among the marines, a gun's
crew of whom were nearly all swept away by a single shot. Com-
mands James Alden of the Richmond in his report of the battle
said, "To Mr. Moore, our chief engineer, great credit is due for his
management throughout the fight, and particularly after the accident
to the safety-valve chest. ' ' The Genesee was considerably damaged
by shot and had three wounded; her commander reported, "I
also bring to special notice the efficient manner in which Mr. John
Cahill, senior engineer, and the assistant engineers, Charles H.
Harreb, Michael McLaughlin, Christopher Milton and Sarrie
Webster, with the firemen and coal heavers attached to this depart,
ment, worked the engine and supplied the furnaces during the
action. ' '

The state of affairs in the engine department of the Richmond
was most critical after the destruction of the safety valves, the
engine and fire-rooms being filled with steam, which obliged the
most heroic devotion to duty in order to save the boilers by hauling
the fires. Mr. Eben Hoyt, the first assistant engineer, was con-
spicuous in this work, as described by the following from the
official report of Chief Engineer John W. Moore :

' ' I consider it my duty to bring to your notice the valuable
assistance rendered me by First Assistant Engineer E. Hoyt, who,
during the whole engagement, was actively employed wherever
most required, until after having penetrated the steam several times,
while superintending the hauling of the fires, trying to ascertain the

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 389

extent of injury, &c. , he was finally led away completely exhausted
and fainting."

In forwarding this report to the Secretary of the Navy, Com-
mander Alden sent the following letter:

" Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith the report of the
chief engineer of this vessel setting forth the injuries done to our
machinery on the night of the 14th instant. It would have
been sent with the others, but Mr. Moore's attention has been
so entirely engrossed in the personal superintendence of the repairs
that it was found impracticable.

" In my general report of our proceedings, at the time re-
ferred to, I had occasion to speak of Mr. Moore's services, and
would again call the attention of the department to his merits as an
officer. All that he says of his assistants I can endorse most fully,
and would beg leave to mention here what I regret was from some
oversight omitted in my first report, namely, that Third Assistant
Engineer Weir, who was stationed at the bell-pull on the bridge,
was of the greatest assistance to me in pointing out the location of
the different batteries, and although knocked down and injured by
splinters, recovered himself immediately and continued unflinch-
ingly at his post."

In order to communicate with the admiral above Port Hudson,
Commander Alden directed the commander of the Genesee to fit out
an expedition from his vessel for that purpose. As the undertaking
was one of great peril, volunteers were called for from among the
officers, and three or four respopded: from these Commander
Macomb selected Acting Third Assistant Engineer Harrie Webster,
although he was the only staff officer who had volunteered; put him
in command of a boat's crew, and started him off ofl his dangerous
mission. Mr. Webster successfully took his boat through the six
or eight miles of intervening swamps and lagoons, delivered his
despatches to Admiral Farragut, received others from him to Com-
mander Alden, and returned to the Genesee the same night. On
the way back he landed and examined a signal station of the enemy,
and, finding about it the fresh trail of a horseman, he took his party

390 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

in pursuit, eventually overhauling and capturing at the point of his
revolver a Confederate lieutenant with his horse, accoutrements, and
important despatches. The exploit was one of remarkable nerve
and daring, performed as it was in the gloomy fastnesses of the
enemy's country.

On the 22nd of March while Rear Admiral Porter with some
mortar-boats and small steamers was trying to work through the
thickets of Steele's Bayou and thus get into the Yazoo Kiver, he
was attacked by a large force of the enemy concealed in the woods;
two of his men were severely wounded and Acting Third Assistant
Engineer Henry Sullivan of the Dahlia was struck by a rifle ball
and killed.

On March 28th the purchased gun-vessel Diana, Acting Master
T. L. Peterson commanding, was sent into Grand Lake from the
Atchafalaya River to make a reconnoissance. When on her return
she was attacked near Berwick Bay from shore by field pieces and
sharp-shooters, and was forced to surrender after a fiercely fought
contest lasting nearly three hours. The commanding officer and
two master's mates next to him in rank were killed before the sur-
render, and Acting Assistant Engineer James MoNally was also
killed, the latter's death being instantaneous from a Minie ball in
the head.

About the middle of July while a detachment of vessels of the
Mississippi flotilla was up the Yazoo Biver destroying Confederate
steamers that had taken refuge there, the armored gunboat Baron
de Kalb ran upon two torpedoes and was sunk in twenty feet of
water. Her hull was so damaged that no effort was made to raise
her, but her guns, stores, and parts of the machinery were removed,
and her armor plates were taken off to prevent them from becoming
of use to the enemy. The Baron de Kalb was originally the St.
Louis, the name having been changed about the time she was trans-
ferred to the Navy Department, and she was the third of the seven
original Edes iron-clads to be destroyed by the enemy. The Cairo
was sunk by a torpedo in the Yazoo River in December, 1862, and
the Cincinnati was sunk by the Vicksburg batteries, May 27th,
1863. These disasters were unattended with loss of life except in
the case of the Cincinnati, which had nineteen people killed or
drowned and fourteen wounded, First Engineer Simon Shultice
being one of the latter.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 391

An unfortunate and unsuccessful attack was made September
8th by a combined army and navy force upon a fortified position at
Sabine Pass, Texas. The force consisted of 1,200 troops in trans-
ports, convoyed by the naval steamers Granite Oity, Arizona, Sachem,
and Clifton, all purchased vessels of inferior resisting powers. In
the engagement the two last named were both disabled by shots ex-
ploding their boilers, and were compelled to surrender. The Sachem
had two engineers and seven men killed and a considerable number
wounded, the two unfortunate engineers being John Frazer, acting
second assistant engineer, and John Munroe, acting third assistant.
The executive officer, Acting Master Khoades, and seven men of the
Clifton were killed and a number, mostly soldiers, wounded; her chief
engineer, Mr. Bradley, was wounded and was afterward reported by
the Confederate captors of the survivors as having died of his injuries.

In October the commander of the ironclad Osage, of the Missis-
sippi squadron, having received information that a Confederate steamer
was tied up to the bank in the Eed Eiver, sent out an expedition
under command of Acting Chief Engineer Thomas Doughty, with
Assistant Engineer Hobbs as his lieutenant, which expedition captured
and destroyed the steamer and another one, took a number of pris-
oners, and returned without loss to the Osage. Mr. Doughty's re-
port of the affair, dated October 1, 1863, follows:

"Sib: In obedience to your order, I, with a party of twenty
men, with the assistance of Mr. Hobbs, started for Eed Eiver this
morning. Arriving at Eed Eiver, I could see no signs of a steam-
boat. I divided the party, sending eight men down the river to look
into the bend below, and with twelve started up the river. When
we had traveled about half a mile I saw the chimneys of a steamer.
The woods were found so dense that we could not penetrate them,
and the only alternative was to advance in sight. The steamer was
on the opposite side of the river, and I feared those on board might
see us in time to escape before we were near enough to use our rifles.
No one saw us, and I chose a spit opposite her, where we could see
any one who attempted to escape. I hailed her; two men were seen
to run forward and disappear; I directed three files on the right to
fire. The fire brought the men out, and at my command they brought
to my side of the river two skiffs which belonged to the boat. I was

392 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

about to embark a party to burn her, when I heard a steamboat de-
scending the river. I ordered the men out of sight behind a large
log and some bushes, and in two minutes I saw a steamer round the
point above. I waited until she was within four hundred yards, and
showed myself, and ordered her to stop. She did so, and I found
myself in possession of nine prisoners and two steamboats. I knew
I could not get them out of the river, and I ordered the destruction
of the first one captured, the Argus, and embarked on board the sec-
ond, the Robert Fulton, and steamed down to the landing where I
first struck the river, where I ordered her to be set on fire, and in a
few minutes she was one mass of flame. She was the better vessel
of the two, and was valued by her owner at seventy-five thousand
dollars. Neither of them had any cargo on board. I captured all
the officers of the boats, one first lieutenant in the Confederate army,
and three negroes."

Admiral Porter in reporting this affair to the Department said,
" This is a great loss to the rebels at this moment, as* it cuts off their
means of operating across that part of Atchafalaya where they lately
came over to attack Morganzia. This capture will deter others from
coming down Ked River. The affair was well managed, and the officers
and men composing the expedition deserve great credit for the share
they took in it. "

During 1863 the navy was increased by about one hundred and
thirty vessels of all kinds acquired by purchase or capture, and lost
thirty-two in battle or by accidental destruction. Fifty-eight
vessels of war were placed under construction during the same
period. The first of these were twenty light-draft single-turreted
monitors, contracts for the construction of which were distributed
among a dozen different cities from Portland, Maine, to St. Louis,
Missouri, during the spring months of the year. The general plans
for these monitors were furnished by John Ericsson and the entire
control and supervision of their building was entrusted to Chief
Engineer A. C. Stimers. They were designed to draw six feet of
■water and were intended to operate in shallow rivers and other
inland waters where guerrillas had made the service of other types
of light-draft boats extremely perilous and of doubtful success. For
causes that will be referred to later, these monitors failed to fulfill

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 395

their mission and never rendered any service of value to the govern-
ment. Their names were, Gasco, Ghimo, Cohoes, Mlah, Klamath,
Koka, Modoc, Napa, Mmbuc, Nausett, Shawnee, Shiloh, Squando-
SwncooJc, Tunms, , Umpqua, Wassuc, Waxsaw, Yazoo, and Yuma.

In June and July contracts were made with various ship-builders
for seven iron double-enders, somewhat larger than those of the
two classes previously built; each had a single inclined low-pressure
engine from designs furnished by the engineer-in-chief. They were
of 1,370 tons displacement and were named Ashuelot, Mohongo,
Monocacy, Muscoota, Shamoken, Suwanee, and Winnipec.

In order to provide for a fleet that would be useful for general
cruising purposes when peace should be restored, the Department
had plans prepared by the Bureau of Construction during the
summer for a number of large wooden frigates and sloops-of-war,
and began the construction of a number of them at the different
navy yards. Unfortunately the supply of seasoned timber had been
so drawn upon by the unusual amount of ship-building of the pre-
ceding years that much green material had to be used in these
vessels and as a consequence those that were eventually finished
were very short-lived. Being long and narrow, they were strength-
ened with diagonal iron bracing amounting almost to an enormous
iron basket woven over the hull, and this held them together long
after the decay of the timbers and would have caused them to fall
in pieces.

Eight of these ships were gun-deck frigates of 4,000 tons dis-
placement and full ship-rigged. They were about 310 feet long
between perpendiculars and forty-six feet extreme beam. Their
names were, Antietam, Ouerriere, Illinois, Java, Kewaydin,
Mmnetonka, Ontario, and Piscataqua. Two other gun-deck frig-
ates, the Sassalo and Wawtaga, somewhat larger than these eight,
were projected at the same time, but their hulls were never built.
In addition to the frigates, ten large sloops-of-war of what was
known as the Oontoocook class were ordered. They were of about
3 050 tons displacement and were named Arapahoe, Oontoocook,
Keosauqua, Manitou, Mondamin, Mosholu, Pushmataha, Tahgayvia,
Wanalosett, and Willamette. Of these only four — the Contoocook,
Manitou, Mosholu and Pushmataha — were ever built, and they,
with the new names of Aloam/, Worcester, Severn, and Congress

396 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

respectively, fell into decay after not many years' service. All
twenty of the ships above named were to have two-cylinder back-
acting engines of the Isherwood type, the cylinders being sixty
inches in diameter and three feet stroke of piston; boilers for each
vessel were specified to have not less than 546 square feet of grate
service. Late in the fall Mr. Isherwood, acting for the Depart-
ment, entered into contracts with eleven different machinery firms
for the engines and boilers of these ships, the contract price for
machinery for each ship being $400,000, except the Ontario which
contract was awarded to John Roach of the Etna Iron Works for
$385,000. Owing to the non-completion of the hulls of many of
the ships, the matter of making settlements and compromises with
the machinery contractors became a vexed problem for the bureau
of steam engineering to struggle with after the war.

The swift cruiser came into existence this year also by the be-
ginning of work on seven vessels in which speed waB to be the most
important element. The Secretary of the Navy in explaining the
need of having such vessels said in his annual report for that year,
" Besides the turreted vessels for coast defense and large armored
ships for naval conflict we need and should have steamers of high
speed constructed of wood, with which to sweep the ocean, and
chase and hunt down the vessels of an enemy." One of these
cruisers, the Idaho, was the child of Mr. E. N. Dickerson, who had
secured sufficient influence to obtain this opportunity of experiment-
ing on a large scale with his theory of perfect expansion of gases
when applied to the steam engine. With the Idaho the Bureau of
Steam Engineering had nothing to do, the contract for hull and
machinery complete being made by the Bureau of Construction in
May, 1863, with Paul L. Forbes and E. N. Dickerson, the contract
price being $600,000. The hull was built by the famous ship-
builder, Steers, of New York, and the machinery by the Morgan
Iron Works from designs prepared by Mr. Dickerson; there were
two pairs of engines driving twin screws, the cylinders having the
very remarkable dimensions for marine engines of eight feet stroke
and thirty inches diameter. The Idaho was 298 feet long, 44£ feet
beam, and of 3,240 tons displacement.

John Ericsson also availed himself of this opportunity to try
engineering conclusions with Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood. It was

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THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

arranged that two ships exactly alike should be built, one to be
fitted with Isherwood's engines and the other with Ericsson's. The
ships were the Madawaslea and Wampanoagr, built side by side in
the Brooklyn navy yard by that master-builder, Naval Constructor
B. F. Delano; they were 335 feet long, 45.2 feet beam, 4,200 tons
displacement, and rated at 3,281 tons burden. Their boilers and
all auxiliaries were the same. Isherwood's engines consisted of a
pair of cylinders 100 inches in diameter and four feet stroke,
arranged by means of huge wood-toothed gear wheels to make one
double stroke of the piston for every 2.04 revolutions of the pro-
peller shaft. Ericsson's cylinders were the same in number and
dimensions as Isherwood's, but their arrangement was according to
his patented vibrating lever type, connecting directly with the shaft.
Ericsson's engines for the Madawaska were built at the Allaire Iron
Works, New York, and Isherwood's for the Wawvpanoag at the
Novelty Iron Works in the same city, the contract price in each
case being $700,000.

Still another ship entered into this competition for speed was the
Chattanooga by the Cramp & Sons Ship Building Co. of Philadel-
phia, which firm built the hull at their own yard and obtained the
machinery by sub-contract from Merrick & Sons. The Chattanooga
had a pair of back-acting engines, 84 inches diameter by 42 inch
stroke, and 980 square feet of grate surface; her length was 315 feet;
breadth 46 feet, and displacement 3,040 tons. The contract price
for the vessel complete was $600,000. The three other cruisers not
yet mentioned were the Pomponoosuc, Ammonoosuc, and Neshammy,
all of which had Isherwood engines precisely like those of the Wam-
panoag, and which cost $700,000 for each of the first two named and
$680,000 for the Neshammy. The machinery for the Pomponoosuc
was built by the Corliss Steam Engine Co. of Providence, Rhode Is-
land; that for the Ammonoosuc by George Quintard at the Morgan
Iron Works, New York, and that for the Neshammy by John Koach,
New York. The Ammonoosuc was built at the Boston Navy Yard
and the Neshaminy at the Philadelphia navy yard, these two being
sister ships, and of about 4,000 tons displacement each. The Pom-
ponoosuc was somewhat larger than the other two, but was never
completed: under the name of Connecticut she stood in frame on the
stocks at the Boston navy yard for many years and was finally broken

400

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES

up. The completion and speed trials of these cruisers did not occur
until some time after the close of the war; the trials of some of them
demonstrated a new possibility in war-ship building and were the
occasion for one of the most remarkable professional triumphs ever
achieved by an engineer, for which reasons the subject will be taken
up in detail hereafter.

Towards the end of the year it was decided to build four double-
turreted monitors to be heavily armed and armored and adapted to
ocean cruising; battle-ships, in fact. These were big vessels (5,660
tons displacement) with big names — Qmnsigamond, Passaconawaj,
Kalamazoo, and Shackamaxon. The hulls were put under construc-
tion at four different navy yards, wood being used, and all deck-
plating, side armor, turrets, etc., obtained by contract with iron
masters. In December the Bureau of Steam Engineering made con-
tracts for theii machinery, the contract price for that for the Quinsi-
gamond and Kalamazoo being $580,000 each, and $590,000 eachfor
the other two. The contracts called for twin screws, each screw shaft
to be actuated by a pair of direct-acting horizontal engines with cyl-
inders 46^ inches in diameter and 50 inches stroke; horizontal tubu-
lar boilers of not less than 900 square feet of grate surface for each
vessel were specified. Designs for this machinery were furnished
the contractors by Mr. John Baird, engineer, of New York city.
None of the hulls were ever completed, but under changed names
they stood on the stocks for a number of years and were eventually
broken up. The following table shows the place of building of the
ships and machinery:

WHERE BUILT.

HULL.

MACHINERY.

Quinsigamond, (Oregou)..

Fassaconoway, (Mass.)

Kalamazoo, (Colossus)

Shackamaxon, (Nebraska)

Boston Navy Yard.
Kittery Navy Yard.
New York Navy Yard.
Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Atlantic Works, Boston,
Delamater Iron Works, N. Y

Pusey , Jones & Co. Wil'n Del.

In November of this year Mr. Isherwood entered into a con-
tract with the Atlantic Works of Boston for a complete outfit of
machinery for the big frigate Franklin, still unfinished at the
Kittery navy yard. The contract called for a pair of back-acting

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 401

engines with cylinders 68 inches in diameter and 42 inches stroke;
four vertical water- tube boilers; two superheating boilers; a Se well's
surface condenser, and a detachable hoisting screw. The contract
price was $440,000.

Under the old naval organization the ranks of line officers as
established by law were, midshipman, master, lieutenant, com-
mander, and captain. Staff officers held assimilated rank with these
up to the rank of commander, as directed by Secretary Toucey's
order of January 13, 1859. In 1862, as has been noted, the line
ranks were increased by adding commodore and rear admiral at the
top and inserting the intermediate ranks of ensign and lieutenant-
commander, no change in the assimilated rank of the staff being
made at that time. To remedy the practical reduction in rank of
the staff thus occasioned the Secretary of the Navy issued an order,
dated March 13, 1863, re-grading the relative rank of the staff
corps, that part of the order especially interesting to engineers read-
ing as follows:

"Third Assistant Engineers to rank with Midshipmen.

' ' Second Assistant Engineers to rank with Ensigns.

'•'■First Assistant Engineers to rank with Masters.

" Chief Engineers to rank with Lieutenant Commanders for the
first five years after promotion ; after the first five years, with Com-
manders; and after fifteen years date of commission, to rank with
Captains.

"Fleet Engineer to rank with the Captain.

''The Fleet Captain to be called the 'Chief of Staff,' and to
take precedence of the Staff Officers of every grade.

' ' Chiefs of Bweaux of the Staff Corps to rank with Commo-
dores, and to take precedence of eacn other according to their dates
of commission as Surgeons, Paymasters, Naval Constructors, and
Engineers, and not according to the date of appointment as Fleet
Officer, or Chief of Bureau.

'■'■Fleet Staff Officers to take precedence of Executive Officers."

August 11th, 1863, the Navy Department issued a circular
directing that thereafter no more appointments of engineers for act-
ing or volunteer service should be made until the applicant had
passed satisfactory examinations before the chief engineer and

402 THE STEAM NAVY OV THE UNITED STATES.

surgeon of the navy yard where application for appointment wag
made.

The following is an extract from a general order issued by the
department under date of September 16, 1863:

"Engineers will hereafter understand that the condition of the
machinery under their charge on the arrival of the vessel from a
cruise will be considered as a test of their efficiency and fidelity in
the discharge of their duties; and that the result of the examination
then made will determine whether they have discharged their duties
in such manner as to deserve commendation, or have been so grossly
negligent or incompetent as to render their expulsion from the
service an act of justice to the public."

On the 22nd of December a new schedule of examinations for
promotion of engineers in the regular service was promulgated by
circular order, the standard being raised considerably above the
requirements of the regulation on the subject issued in 1859. This
order was specified to apply temporarily only, during the war, and
to the examination of engineers in the squadrons.

CHAPTEE XXIII.

"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee."

Hamlet: Act 1, Sc. 3.

1863— The Civil War, Continued — Controversy as to the Efficiency of Iron-Clads —
Bear Admiral DuPont Beports Adversely to Them — Chief Engineer Stimers
Beports in Their Favor — Bear Admiral DuPont Prefers Charges Against Chief
Engineer Stimers — The Case Investigated by a Court of Inquiry. — Vindication
of Mr. Stimers.

THIS history of the steam ships and engineers of the American
navy would be incomplete without some reference to an
internal strife in the service in the year 1863, growing out of the
introduction of mastless war- vessels; a controversy that produced
much ill feeling at the time, and one that would gladly be passed
over in silence were it not for the fact that it was a matter of
national interest and importance while it lasted and reduced itself to
a clean-cut issue between the old and the new. It was in fact a
struggle for existence almost on the part of the engineers and their
machinery, opposed by the older, more picturesque, and more con.
servative sentiments that had formed the traditions and institutions
of the old navy and sought to preserve them unchanged, regardless
of the progress in all other things being effected through the agency
of the steam engine.

The attack made upon Fort Sumter April 7th by Rear Admiral
DuPont with a squadron of iron-clads has been described in a
former chapter, and the fact that the Navy Department expected
unqualified success from these vessels has been mentioned. Great,
therefore, was the disappointment in Washington when DuPont's
report of the engagement arrived with his announcement that he
had determined not to renew the attack, as in his judgment it would
convert a failure into a disaster. In a later report he enlarged upon
what he considered the bad qualities of the monitors and said they
could not be depended upon for protection against the armored

404 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

vessels the Confederates were known to be fitting out at Charleston.
It is possible that an element of distrust entered into the disappoint-
ment felt in Washington, for immediately after the receipt of the
news from Charleston President Lincoln telegraphed DuPont to hold
his position inside the bar near Charleston, or to return to it if he
had left it and hold it until further orders. Beginning in this way
a correspondence was opened between Rear Admiral DuPont and the
Navy Department, gradually increasing in acerbity, and terminat-
ing in the admiral being relieved of his command and deprived of
any further participation in the war.

The whole story of this affair was given to the public more than
thirty years ago by the publication in book form, by virtue of a
joint resolution of Congress, of five thousand copies of the docu-
ments in the case together with other interesting letters and reports
relating to armored vessels. In the present chapter the author will
confine himself almost entirely to the records as preserved in
the public form referred to, not being disposed to enter upon
any expression of his own views as to the motives and interests
involved.

Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, as the general inspector of
all iron-clad vessels of the Ericsson type built or building for the
government, made frequent visits to the fleet off Charleston for pur-
poses of examination and to direct repairs in case of damage. He
was present at the first attack on Fort Sumter and made a visit of
inspection to each of the monitors immediately after they came out
of action. Returning to his office in New York a few days later
he made, on the 14th of April, a detailed and critical report to the
Secretary of the Navy of the result of his observations, his views
as to the offensive and defensive properties of the monitors being
very favorable to them and quite at variance with the opinions
expressed in Rear Admiral DuPont's despatches. For this he was
thereafter involved in the growing controversy and appeared in it to
excellent advantage as the defender of the new type of war ship.
Besides exercising an oversight upon the iron-clads, he had
attempted while at Charleston on this occasion to induce the authori-
ties to use an "obstruction remover" invented by Ericsson and with
which Stimers had made some satisfactory experiments in the still
waters of New York harbor. This was a huge raft, called by the

THE STEAM NAVX OF THE UNITED STATES. 405

sailors a "boot-jack" on the account of its form, intended to be
pushed by. a monitor and carrying an enormous elongated shell or
torpedo at its forward edge designed to destroy by explosion any
piling or other obstacles that might be encountered. Mr. Stimers
referred with much regret in his report to the lack of success he had
had in trying to convince the naval captains of the utility of this
invention. It received a fair enough trial from Captain John
Rodgers of the Weehawken soon afterward and was found so unman-
ageable in the rough water in which it had to operate that it may
be put down as one of Ericsson's inventions that was more success-
ful on a sheet of drawing paper than it was in actual practice afloat.
Chief Engineer E. D. Robie, one of the most ingenious and capable
engineers of the war period, was diverted from his regular duty as
resident inspector of the building of the Dictator to go to Charles-
ton to try to make this torpedo raft a success, and his failure to do
bo is good proof that it was impracticable.

On the 22nd of April Eear Admiral DuPont sent a long letter
to the Navy Department complaining most bitterly of an account
of the battle of April 7th which had been published in a Baltimore
newspaper and in which it was stated that the weapons at DuPont's
disposal were not used to advantage through disinclination induced
by a dislike to Ericsson and his naval innovations. The complaint
closed with the statement that the newspaper mentioned "seems to
have had its own hostile proclivities heightened by an association
with an officer of the service whose name appears frequently and
prominently in its report in connexion with the repairs upon the
iron-clads and in relation to the torpedoes and the rafts; I mean
Mr. A. C. Stimers, a chief engineer in the naval service of the
United States. ' ' The reply of Secretary Welles to this letter re-
minded the rear admiral that the press of the country had been
generally lenient and indulgent toward him, and the censures, under
a great disappointment, had been comparatively few. It told him
that his suspicions regarding Mr. Stimers did that officer much in-
justice, and concluded with the comment :

"It has not appeared to me necessary to your justification that
the powers of assault or resistance of our iron-clad vessels should be
deprecated, and I regret that there should have been any labored
effort for that purpose."

406 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Rear Admiral DuPont replied at much length to this letter,
making an especial point of objecting to the use of the word "len-
ient" as applicable to the opinions entertained by the public toward
him; and so the matter went on; every letter written by each of
the distinguished gentlemen tending more and more to estrange
them. On the 22nd of May the Department sent the rear admiral
an item cut from a Charleston newspaper in which it was stated that
the guns of the Keokuk had been removed by the Confederates and
taken to Charleston, and requested information regarding it.
DuPont replied curtly that he knew nothing of it other than the
statement of the newspaper; that he had little doubt of its truth;
that the work must have been done in the night, and that he had
offered Chief Engineer Eobie every facility to blow up the Keokuk,
with Mr. Ericsson's raft, but that officer found it too dangerous to
use. This called forth an equally curt retort from Secretary Welles,
who wrote, " The duty of destroying the Keokuk, and preventing
her guns from falling into the hands of the rebels, devolved upon
the commander-in-chief rather than on Engineer Eobie. I do not
understand that the operations were necessarily limited to Mr.
Ericsson's raft, of which such apprehensions appear to have been
entertained. The wreck and its important armament ought not to
have been abandoned to the rebels, whose sleepless labors appear to
have secured them a valuable prize."

In the latter part of June Eear Admiral Andrew H. Foote,
who had achieved such success while commanding the Mississippi
flotilla, was ordered to relieve DuPont, but being seized with a
fatal illness the orders were transferred to Eear Admiral John A.
Dahlgren, who took over the command of the South Atlantic block-
ading squadron on the 6 th of July from DuPont, who was placed
on waiting orders. The protracted siege of the Charleston forts at
once inaugurated by Dahlgren has already been described.

Previous to this, on the 12th of May, Eear Admiral DuPont
had requested the Navy Department to arrest Chief Engineer
Stimers and send him to Charleston to be tried on the following
charges :

Charges and Specifications of Charges Preferred hy Bear Admiral
Samuel F. DuPont, Commanding South Atlantic Blockading

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 407

Squadron, against Chief Engineer Allan C. Stimers, United
States Nam/.

Charge First : Falsehood.

" Specification. — In this: that between the eleventh and fif-
teenth days of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, the said
Alban 0. Stimers, a chief engineer in the United States navy, being
then on board the steamship Arago, by the authority and direction
of Hear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont, commanding the South Atlan-
tic blockading squadron — the said Arago being on her passage from
PortEoyal, South Carolina, to New York City, via Charleston bar —
did, at the table of said steamer, in the presence of officers of said
steamer and other persons, a number of whom were correspondents
of the public press, and at divers other times during the passage of
said steamer, falsely assert, knowing the same to be untruis, that he
was told by one or more of the commanders of the iron-clad vessels
engaged in the attack upon the forts and batteries in Charleston
harbor, on the seventh day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-
three, that the attack of that day ought to have been renewed; and
that they did further state to him that the said iron-clad vessels
were in fit condition to renew it; and the said Alban C. Stimers did
further falsely assert, knowing the same to be untrue, that several
of the commanders of the said iron-clad vessels had said to him in
his presence and hearing that they, the said commanders, were,
after the attack aforesaid, ' hot for renewing the engagement,' or
words to that effect.

" Charge Second: Conduct unbecoming an officer of the navy.

" Specification. — In this: that between the eleventh and fif-
teenth days of April eighteen hundred and sixty-three, the said
Alban C. Stimers, a chief engineer in the United States navy, being
then on board the steamship Arago, by the authority and direction
of Hear Admiral S. F. DuPont, commanding South Atlantic block-
ading squadron — the said Arago being on her passage from Port
Royal, South Carolina, to New York City via Charleston bar — did,
at the table of said steanier, in the presence of officers of the said
steamer and other persons, a number of whom were correspondents

408 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

of the public press, and at divers other times during the passag<
the said steamer, with the intent to disparage and injure the j
fessional reputation of his superior officer, Hear Admiral S.
DuPont, criticise and condemn, in terms unbecoming the circi
stances and his position as an officer of the navy, the professio
conduct of his superior officer, Rear Admiral S. F. DuPont, in
attack upon the forts and batteries in Charleston harbor onthesi
enth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and did, w
the like intent, knowingly make false statements, using, amo
other improper and unfounded expressions, words in substance
follows: ' That the monitors were in as good condition on Wedn
day, the eighth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-thr
after they had undergone some slight repairs, to renew the
tack, as they had been to commence it the day before; that tl
could go into Charleston in spite of guns, torpedoes, and obstr
tions, and that Hear Admiral DuPont was too much prejudii
against the monitors to give them a fair trial. '

Instead of sending the accused officer to DuPont for trial
court-martial the department convened a court of inquiry at
Brooklyn navy yard to investigate the truth of the charges and
port regarding them. This court was composed of Eear Adm
Francis H. Gregory, Eear Admiral Silas H. Stringham, and C<
modore William C. Nicholson, all old and distinguished offici
but by training and professional associations more apt to lean
wards DuPont's side of the issue than to feel any sympathy
Stimers and the mechanical innovations represented by him.
Edwin M. Stoughton was named as judge advocate, but that g
tleman refused to act, and appeared in the case as counsel
Stimers. Judge Edward Pierrepont of New York was next
pointed judge advocate, and he too refused to accept the ofl
which was then conferred upon Mr. Hiram L. Sleeper. '
list of witnesses named by the prosecution included the officers
a number of passengers of the Arago and the commanders
some other officers of the rron-clads off Charleston.

The court met at the Marine Barracks, Brooklyn, June
and continued in session for more than four months, with si
lengthy adjournments to allow of the taking of testimony of

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 409

nesses on duty with the fleet at Charleston, which was done by
means of written interrogatories and cross-interrogatories according
to the terms of a formal stipulation between the judge advocate and
the counsel for the accused which was spread on the pages of the
record. The testimony presented by the prosecution was generally
favorable to Mr. Stimers and failed to substantiate the charges and
specifications made against him. As printed in the public document
before referred to as the source of information for the facts pre-
sented in this chapter it is too long to admit of an analytical review
in this place, which review is therefore omitted in favor of the care-
ful one made by Chief Engineer Stimers in his written defense ; a
most manly and straightforward argument which was submitted to
the court on the 19th of October and is here reproduced in full :

"May itplease this honorable court: ^s*-.*ma*~- ,

" The testimony introduced by .the Judge Advocate to sustain the
charges made against me by Rear Admiral DuPont is now closed.
Acting in view of the proof thus placed before the court I deem it
wholly unnecessary to offer evidence in reply. The very foundation
on which these charges must rest is wanting, and hardly an attempt
has been made to supply it. They were carelessly, if not recklessly,
made by a high officer of the Government, willing to give them the
sanction of his name, apparently without inquiring whether they
were capable of proof, or founded upon worthless rumor. Much
time has been uselessly spent in apparent efforts to prove them;
but anyone attentively .reading the evidence discovers that the
real purpose has been not to establish the charges in question, but
to justify their author in failing effectively to use the formidable
means for destroying the defences of Charleston, which our Govern-
ment in its confidence and hope had lavished upon him. That I
am not unjust or uncharitable in making this suggestion will be
manifest from an examination of the charges and proof which I will
now proceed to make. ' '

' '1st. The first specification charges me with having, whilst on
board the steamer Arago, on her voyage from Charleston to New
York, at table, in presence of her officers and other persons, a

410 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

number of whom were correspondents of the public press, fals
asserted, knowing the same to be untrue, that I was told by one
or more of the commanders of the iron-clads engaged in the att:
on Charleston that it ought to have been renewed; that the vest
were in a fit condition to renew it; and that several of the co
manders had said to me that they were hot for renewing I
engagement.

"A person observant of Christian precepts, considerate of ]
duty towards a fellow man, or actuated by self respect, woul
before deliberately framing a charge calculated to consign a brotl
officer to disgrace and infamy, have inquired carefully into its tru
and the means of establishing it. Indeed, he would hardly ha
been content to make it before conversing personally with th<
capable of proving it; and then a just man would have withheld I
accusation, so painful for a gentleman to bear, until satisfied tl
his witnesses were entitled to full credit. The course which i
accuser has seen fit to pursue presents a wide departure from 1
path thus indicated. The names of persons who were on board 1
Arago during the voyage were appended as witnesses to the charj
made, and most of them have been examined. It appears tha
sat at the public table of the steamer in the immediate neighborhc
of several other persons, all no doubt accessible to my accuser,
to those seeking to support the charges. If, therefore, I, duri
the voyage, used the language imputed to me, it was susceptible
easy proof. Not a particle of testimony to that effect has, howev
been furnished. No one pretends I ever said that any commam
of the iron-clads had stated to me either that the attack on Charl
ton ought to have been renewed, or that the iron-clads were in a
condition to do so, or that their commanders were hot for renew
the engagement. No language bearing the least resemblance to t
charged is proven to have been uttered by me at any time ; and I
bound to assume that neither of the witnesses named ever sta
otherwise than they have sworn here. If not, then upon what
formation could the charges in qnestion have been framed ? Was
believed that they could be proven ? And if not, were they wa
only made, so that upon pretense of sustaining them, the na
inactivity, painful to a whole nation, might be iustified by pr

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 411

quite irrelevant to the charges being tried, and therefore quite likely
to pass uncontradicted by me ?

"2d. The second charge made against me is for conduct unbe-
coming an officer of the navy, and specifies, in substance, that at
the table of said steamei , and elsewhere on board of her, during the
passage, I criticised and condemned, in terms unbecoming the cir-
cumstances, the professional conduct of Rear Admiral DuPont, by
stating that the monitors were in as good condition on the 8th day
of April, 1863, after they had undergone some slight repairs, to
renew the attack, as they had been to commence it the day before.
That they could go into Charleston in spite of guns, torpedoes
and obstructions; but that Admiral DuPont was too much pre-
judiced against the monitors to give them a fair trial.

' ' Now if, under the circumstances, I had stated all that is
charged, it would, in my judgment, have been no more than I was
authorized to say. I had been charged by the government with the
important duty of inspecting the construction and armament of the
vessels whilst they were being made. They were new in the history
of the world; but in the contest between the Monitor and Merrimao
although the latter on the day previous had defied a fleet of our
largest frigates, carrying an armament fifty times greater than the
Monitor, destroying some and threatening all with the same fate,
yet the Monitor, working her two eleven inch guns behind an invul-
nerable shield, tested her powers, offensive and defensive, by so
terrible an ordeal that intelligent and unprejudiced men here and in
Europe from that hour saw that naval supremacy must be main-
tained, if at all, by abandoning wooden ships and adopting those
which the genius, engineering skill, and ripe, practical knowledge
of their author had taught the world how to construct. My know-
ledge of this class of war vessels had been acquired not only by
watching and inspecting their construction step by step, but under
the orders of the government I had enjoyed the good fortune of
participating in the contest to which I have referred, and which had
developed the capacity of the Monitor system to sustain unharmed
the fire of heavy guns at short range, and at the same time to in-
flict deadly injuries upon an adversary's ship of great power heavily

412 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

sheathed in iron. With an experience thus gained I might, as
think, have justly claimed the right to express an opinion as to 1
value and capacities of the monitors, even had this differed from 1
views entertained by Hear Admiral DuPont, whose knowledge cc
cerning them was probably derived from casual inspection and t
reports of others. Moreover, I was charged by the Governing
with the duty of proceeding to Charleston to watch and report t
performance of these vessels in action, to assist in maintaining the
in readiness for battle, and afford to the officers having them
charge such information as might be needful.

"In addition to all this it may here be proper to say that al
great expense shells had been devised by Captain Ericsson, 1
author of the Monitor system, which, in connexion with rafts to
attached to the bows of vessels, were to be used for removing
means of explosive force, obstructions within the harbor, and
firing torpedoes supposed to be sunk by the enemy in the track
our advancing fleet. The effectiveness of these shells had been
tested by me, before they were sent to Admiral DuPont, as to mi
it clear to my mind and to that of the government that they wo
be practically safe and capable of clearing the track of battle,
strongly urged Admiral DuPont to use these shells, and reques
permission to participate in the action of the 7th, on board a mc
tor which should be thus armed. The privilege was denied to i
and although in view of supposed obstructions, I had expressed
Admiral DuPont and to his officers the opinion that the monil
could successfully pass them, my confidence in expressing it ■
greatly strengthened by, and somewhat founded upon, the assui
tion that these shells were to be employed, and this the Adm
knew. He nevertheless declined to order their employment
thus was lost to the government and nation a powerful means
penetrating to the cradle of this great rebellion.

"Under these circumstances, and well aware that the gov<
ment had expected much from the attack upon Charleston with
abundant means furnished to the rear admiral commanding, I
greatly disappointed that the important instruments I have men tic
were not used by him, especially as I believed (an as an earnes
my conviction had offered to hazard my life and limb) that '

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 413

shells attached to the monitors they could pass all obstructions and
hold the city of Charleston at their mercy.

"All this was certainly calculated to awaken in my mind criti-
cism upon the conduct of Bear Admiral Dupont, which, as the evidence
shows, I refrained from expressing, maintaining a reserve, not merely
respectful to him, but calculated to defend him from the censures
freely and openly cast upon him for failing to renew the attack of
the 7th of April.

' ' I will now briefly examine the proof introduced to maintain
the second charge, the mere reading of which will show that even if
I had said all that is charged against me, it was but the statement
of views which, if honest, I had a right in common with all other
persons to express. Entertaining the opinion, and officially report-
ing it as I did to Kear Admiral DuPont, that the monitors were on
the 8th substantially, for practical purposes, as fit to renew the attack
as they had been to make it on the day previous. 1 was bound
neither by courtesy nor by any rule of the service with which I am
acquainted, to withhold or conceal it; and believing, as I certainly
did, that the monitors, with the rafts and shells attached, could have
gone into Charleston in spite of guns, torpedoes and obstructions, I
was equally entitled to state, in respectful language, that opinion
also; and, moreover, I think the disrespect, if there be any, in im-
puting to Kear Admiral DuPont prejudice against the monitors, was
so slight that his self-respect can hardly have been increased by
noticing it. Indeed, whilst there is no proof in the case that I ever
charged him with entertaining this prejudice, and whilst by assert-
ing that I did, he, by implication at least, denies the existence of
the prejudice so imputed, the evidence introduced on his behalf very
clearly established that he was prepossessed against them, for Cap-
tain Drayton in substance declares he don't think Admiral DuPont
had a high opinion of the monitors, and that he could not have had
after reading his (Drayton's) reports concerning them, made before the
fight.

" What these reports were does not appear, but that the witness
believed he had succeeded in instilling into the admiral's mind his
own unfavorable opinion is quite clear.

"The proof, however, fails to show that I made the statement
charged against me. The evidence on this subject consists of the

414 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

testimony of Captain Gadsden, of the Arago, and of several other
persons who were on board of that steamer during her voyage from
Charleston to New York. He says in substance that I stated that
the monitors had received no serious injury; that they could be re-
paired in a few hours; that the trial ought not to condemn them; that
they had not had a fair trial ; that with the shells attached to them
they could go in. He further swore that I said the officers of the
navy were prejudiced against the monitors, but that I mentioned no
one in particular, and did not reflect upon Admiral DuPont.

" The purser of the Arago testified that I said the officers of the
navy were rather prejudiced against them, but that I spoke of Ad-
miral DuPont personally in the highest terms. Mr. Colwell swore
that those on board the Arago were much excited about the fight at
Charleston, and condemned the admiral for his failure; but he did not
intimate that I took part in such conversation, stating only that I
said the monitors were very little injured, and were repaired in about
five hours; that I was respectful in my remarks concerning Admiral

DuPont: and although this witness said he at one time was under
the impression that I had said the admiral was prejudiced against

the monitors, he afterwards stated that I might not have said so, but
that as the passengers generally united in condemning him, the wit-
ness may have confounded their statements with mine.

"Mr. Fulton, in his testimony, states that my conversations
with him on the subject of the attack were private, and in an under-
tone, and that I said I had sometimes retired to my stateroom to
avoid being questioned; that I said the attack was not an earnest
one, and expressed disappointment that the shells were not employed,
but did not say the monitors could have entered the harbor without
them, nor that the admiral was prejudiced against the monitors, but
that I did say he would have renewed the attack but for the influ-
ence of some of those who were.

" Mr. Mars, a passenger, testified that I appeared not to wish
to speak on the subject of the attack, and that although he sat op-
posite to me at the table, he did not hear me say that the admiral
was prejudiced.

1 ' Having thus failed to prove that I had uttered any of the

language as charged, and it appearing upon the evidence that I had

spoken of Eear Admiral DuPont in high terms, studiously refraining

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 415

from talking upon the subject of the attack, it appeared to me
remarkable that the prosecution, instead of acknowledging the in-
justice of these charges, should persist in calling witnesses to prove
that the monitors were seriously injured in their attack upon the
forts, and could not have renewed it without probable disaster.

" Whilot this attempt has signally failad, it has nevertheless
disclosed the real purpose of this prosecution to have been, not an
inquiry into any language or conduct of mine, but, under that pre-
text, an effort to justify the failure by Eear Admiral DuPont, which
had attracted the observation of the world, by condemning as inade-
quate the instruments which a liberal government had placed in his
hands.

" His desire to justify himself was natural, but that he should
have been willing to achieve even his own vindication by making
and persisting in prosecuting unfounded charges against a brother
officer, is extraordinary. How utterly he has failed to accomplish
this a brief examination of the proofs will show.

" It appears from these that before the attack was made it was
supposed by Admiral DuPont that torpedoes had been placed in the
channel along which his fleet must pass. That network had been
suspended from buoys designed to entangle the propellers and thus
prevent their action, and that for some purpose piles had been placed
across the middle ground to obstruct the entrance of monitors from
that direction. It moreover appears, especially from a careful read-
ing of the deposition of Commander C. R. P. Rodgers, the admiral's
fleet captain, that no additional information upon either of these sub-
jects was obtained by means of the attack. After that was over, the
existence of torpedoes, of network and the purpose of the piles were
shrouded in the same mystery as before. It was ascertained, how-
ever, that if torpedoes lurked in the channel, they were probably
harmless, for none had been exploded; and that they were incapable
of being fired is shown by the letter referred to by this witness,
written by a rebel officer in Fort Sumter, stating that the effort to
explode a torpedo whilst directly under the hull of the Ironsides had

failed.

" We must therefore accept it as established, that as no infor-
mation was obtained during the conflict which could be used to
strengthen the surmises before existing as to the character of these

416 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

obstructions, their supposed existence could not have afforded ground
for declining to renew the engagement which was not equally good
as an objection against having made it at all; and this being so, we
must look for some other reason for the failure of the admiral to offer
battle on the 8th, in pursuance of his declared intention, when he
gave the signal for the monitors to haul off on the previous day.

" It is true that some of this testimony conveys the impression
that the fear of encountering these supposed obstructions was a con-
trolling element in the admiral's mind in forming the determination
not to renew the attack; but in this there is evident mistake, for a
brave and intelligent commander would hardly be so fearM of ob-
structions which might or might not be real, as to abandon a great
enterprise without practical effort to learn whether obstacles to its
achievement existed or not. Against such a suspicion I feel disposed
to defend Admiral DuPont, and hence am constrained to look else-
where for some reason why he failed to renew an attack which, if
persisted in, might have succeeded. His witnesses on this subject
next point to the injuries sustained by the monitors, and to their
alleged inability to withstand a repetition of the terrible fire to which
they were subjected on the 7th. A glance at the testimony will show
how utterly unfounded is this effort at an excuse, whilst it will also
establish to the satisfaction of intelligent and unprejudiced men that
the capacity of the monitors to resist unharmed the most terrible fire
from guns and rifles of the heaviest calibre, has never been overstated.
It appears from the testimony of the fleet captain that the fire to
which they were exposed was by far more terrific than that which he
or anyone connected with the fleet had ever before seen. From fifty
to one hundred rebel guns, of heavier calibre than were ever before
employed against ships-of-war, were brought to bear upon the moni-
tors at the same time, and probably many more. The Patapsco was
struck by fifty-one shots, twenty-one of which hit the turret, and fif-
teen or more of these — all heavy ball — struck it within the period of
five minutes, and yet at 8:30 o'clock on the evening of the 7th she
was in a fit condition to renew the engagement.

The Nantucket was struck fifty-three times ; and although the
mechanism which worked her XV-inch gun was disordered, this was
repaired on the 8th. Captain Drayton states that the top of the
pilot house of the Passaic was raised up by a shot, but it is quite evi-

<■ THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 417

dent, from his account of it, that this in no manner disabled the ves-
sel, whilst it hardly increased the chances of danger to those within.
It sufficiently appears that the Weehawken was fit to have renewed
the engagement on the following day, although she was struck sev-
eral times on her side armor in nearly the same place.

' ' Without following this subject further in detail, it is sufficient
to state, what appears from the proof, that each and all of the moni-
tors were in fighting condition within twenty-four hours after they
came out of battle, whilst the injuries received by them were so tri-
fling, when the terrible means employed for inflicting them were con-
sidered, that they may be pronounced substantially invulnerable to
the strongest artillery. But one life was lost on board of them dur-
ing the conflict ; and whilst one or two of the turrets were by the im-
pact of shot partially prevented from turning until repaired, it should
be remembered that, turning by their rudders, each could at all times
present her guns to the enemy at pleasure. Indeed, it was partly by
this means that the guns of the Monitor were brought to bear on the
Merrimac in that first engagement of ironclads to which I have be-
fore referred. One of the witnesses has suggested that if other shots
had struck in the same place as previous ones, the armor might have
been endangered. Entertaining, as I do, the opposite opinion, I
would suggest that even if the witness was correct, he anticipates a
hazard too remote to be much apprehended : for it is well known that
the chances that one shot will strike exactly where a previous one
had hit, are very slight.

" The Keokuk, an ironclad vessel, but not built upon the plan
of the monitors, was almost immediately disabled, having fired but
three guns at the enemy; and the Ironsides, a much stronger and
better armed ship, although she escaped serious injury, no doubt
owed this to the temporary means employed to strengthen her before
going into action, and to the care exercised in keeping her at a great
distance from the enemy's guns.

" That this distance was maintained is apparent from the testi-
mony of the fleet captain, who stated in substance, that when the
order was signalled for the monitors to retire from the conflict they
all passed the Ironsides in moving out. This shows that .they were
inside of her and much closer to the enemy's batteries ; and how
much nearer may be inferred from his cross-examination, in which he

418 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

states that twenty minutes may have elapsed before the last of the
monitors passed by. They engaged the batteries within six hundred
yards, and it need hardly be suggested, that no ship not constructed
upon their plan could have lived under the heavy fire to which, at
that distance, they were subjected.

I here close what I have thought it well to say concerning this
attempt by Kear. Admiral DuPont to justify his inaction and failure
by attacking that system of war vessels which has already, in my
opinion, given us a more effective fleet than is possessed by any
other nation. A judicious use of these vessels might have transmit-
ted his name with honor far into the future. An assault upon the
system can but recoil upon the assailant. From me it needs no de-
fense. Time and battle will but confirm the opinions I have ex-
pressed concerning it, whilst its adoption by the nations of the world
will bear unfailing testimony to the great skill and foresight of its
contriver.

" With these remarks I submit my case to the just consideratio*
of this honorable Court. (

" Yery respectfully,

(Signed) " Alban C. Stimeks;

" Chief Engineer, United States Navy.
"Naval Lyceum, New York, October 19, 1863."

The next day, October 20, the court met for its last session and
added the following finding to its record :

" The court having diligently and fully inquired into the mat-
ters embraced in the specifications of charges in this case, hereby re-
port that, in their opinion, there is no necessity or propriety for fur-
ther proceedings in the case."

Rear Admiral DuPont was an eminent and capable naval officer
of the old school, but of too long service and of too fixed ideas to
yield before a development that entirely upset all the naval methods
of his lifetime, and by standing in the way of the march of progress,
instead of gracefully stepping aside and admitting the competence
of a mechanical generation, he was run over and humiliated by a
power more potent than he had imagined. In a time of peace when
the public is indifferent to the navy and its advancement the con-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 419

servative opinions of its veteran officers usually prevail and prevent
changes in methods or material that involve any great departure
from -what has existed so long as to become custom, but in time of
war sentiment and dogma must yield to practical utility, and the
irresistible power of public opinion will always force this submission.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Fox, was from his own training
probably the most competent official connected with the Navy De-
partment during the war to judge of the characteristics of the
officers of the navy. In a letter written by him to John Ericsson
in 1864 he summed up in the following manner the actual attitude
of Bear Admiral DuPont towards the new iron-clad war-vessels :

"He is of a wooden age, eminent in that, but in an engineer-
ing age behind the time. You were always opposed to attacking
forts, but DuPont deBpised the vessels and the brain that conceived
them."

The " old school " of navalism means a great deal unknown to
the officers of the present generation if all the testimony of the past
may be depended upon. A very curious condition of affairs was
allowed to grow up in our navy during that long period of compara-
tive inactivity, interrupted only by the Mexican War, which inter-
vened between the end of the last war with Great Britain and the
outbreak of the rebellion. " The commodore of the period was an
august personage who went to sea in a great flag-ship, surrounded
by a conventional grandeur which was calculated to inspire a becom-
ing respect and awe. Ab the years of peace rolled on, this figure
became more and more august, more and more conventional. The
fatal defects of the system were not noticed until 1861, when the
crisis came, and the service was unprepared to meet it. " 1 Sur-
rounded thus with much of the pomp and dignity of a court and in-
vested with what some of the admirers of that old regime have been
pleased to call " kingly power, " it is no wonder that the average
commodore lost sight of his true relation to the civil head of the
navy and, unconsciously perhaps, came to regard him as merely a
secretary, in fact as well as in title, interposed somewhat unneces-

1 Professor J. B. Soley, in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Vol. I, p. 623.

420 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

earily between himself and the chief executive. Instances are not
lacking of commanders-in-chief of squadrons abroad ignoring or
mis-interpreting orders sent themifrom the department, and there is
at least one case on record of a commodore issuing an order, upon
taking command of a squadron in a remote part of the world, abol-
ishing all regulations of the Navy Department except such as had
been approved by the President.

Under these influences and surroundings Samuel F. DuPont had
acquired step by step his naval education and beliefs through all the
monotonous years from a midshipman in 1815 to within two num-
bers of being the senior rear admiral in 1863. The sentiments ex-
pressed by him in his correspondence with the Secretary of the Navy
are therefore not surprising, although they would be actually start-
ling if attempted at the present day. When the court of inquiry had
finally disposed of the Stimers case, DuPont, under date of October
22nd, broke the silence that he had observed since being detached
from his command and sent a letter to the department that is one of
the most instructive documents ever made public, its expressions pro-
viding us with a perfect mirror of the mind of the old navy. A few
of them are repeated as illustrative examples.

" It is with profound regret that I perceive in your despatch of
the 26th of June a reiteration of the charges and reproaches of previous
despatches and in your silence since, during a period of three months,
a resolution not to recall them. My last hope of justice at the hands
of the department is therefore extinguished.

" If I have failed in my duty I am liable to trial, but insulting
imputations in official despatches are grave wrongs, perpetrated on
the public records to my permanent injury.

' ' The remedy which the law would afford me against a superior
officer indulging in the language of your despatches does not exist
against the civil head of the department.

"I was aware of the visit of the Assistant Secretary to
Charleston, but I learn with surprise from your despatch that,
without a commission in the navy, he commanded the expedition
which witnessed the bombardment of Sumter without relieving it.

" I have no desire to question the power of the department to
relieve me at its discretion, but its order of the 3d of June assigns

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 42'

causes which do not exist, and ascribed to me opinions which I had
neither expressed nor entertained."

Secretary Welles, after a delay of about two weeks, replied to
this letter without resentment, reviewing the whole subject at great
length and giving reasons in justification of the course pursued by
the department that were considerate, even if not necessary. The
general tone of the communication impresses one as conveying
fatherly sorrow rather than the expression of offended authority, the
only passage in it that may fairly be considered harsh being the
following review of DuPont's operations at Charleston :

"You disapproved of the occupancy of the harbor, yet I am
not aware that you ever caused or attempted to have a reconnois-
sance of the obstructions or any examination of the harbor made
before the attack, nor am I aware that you have ever offered an
excuse for this omission. After the attack was made you were dis-
satisfied with the Ironsides — dissatisfied with the monitors —
dissatisfied with Chief Engineer Stimers, against whom you pre-
pared charges and desired that he might be arrested and sent to you
for trial, he having expressed his surprise that you should abandon
the assault on so brief an effort — dissatisfied with Surgeon Kershner,
whom you court-martialed for a similar offense — dissatisfied with
Mr. Fulton, the special agent of the Post Office Department, for
his criticisms on your movements and acts — dissatisfied with the
President for his telegram, and dissatisfied with the department for
not more promptly and formally acknowledging and publishing
your reports.

"If these complaints and reports, wherein the admiral of the
squadron devoted so large a portion of his time to his personal
matters and so little towards marshalling his force for the occupa-
tion of the harbor of Charleston and the capture of the city, were
not received with the patience to which they were entitled, it was my
misfortune. I do not deny that it would have been more accept-
able to the department to have witnessed the zeal manifested in
hunting down newspaper editors, engineers, and surgeons, directed
against rebel enemies and to the destruction of their works.'5

This correspondence terminated the controversy and also con-

422 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

eluded Bear Admiral DuPont's active participation in the executive
administration of the operations of the Navy Department, for he
remained unemployed, on waiting orders, until his death, which
occured in June, 1865, soon after the close of the war. It was the
fault of the system under who*e influence his life had been passed
rather than from any personal short-coming of his own that the last
years of his life were embittered. "There was no more accom-
plished officer in our naval service than Admiral DuPont, no man
of nobler personality, but he was the very incarnation of naval
exclusiveness and prejudice against innovation, and the introduction
of the monitors into our navy gave a shock to his sensibilities from
which they never recovered. It may be that he was expected to
accomplish with them more than was possible in his attack upon
Charleston, but he was disposed to exaggerate their deficiencies and
to criticise them in a spirit of unfriendliness that arrayed against
him the active hostility of their champions."1

»W. C. Church, Life of John Ericsson; Vol. II., p. 64-65.

CHAPTEE XXIV.

" In the beauties of the lilies Christ was born beyond the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me ;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free ;
While God is marching on."
Julia Wakd Howe; Battle-hymn of the Republic.

1864. — The Civil War, Continued— Confederate Successes in the Use of Torpedoes
— Blowing up of the Sloop-of-War Housatonic — Minor Naval Operations —
Boiler Explosion on the Chenango — The Kearsahge-Alabama Fight — The
Great Battle in Mobile Bay— Loss of the TECUMSEH-Capture of the Privateer
Flokida by the Wachtjsett — The Gunboat Otsego sunk by a Torpedo —
First Attack on Fort Fisher.

NAYAL operations during 1864 were marked by a number of
minor disasters and by several decisive victories, the general
results of the year being most favorable to the reputation of the ser-
vice. The first mishap of the year occurred to the small side-wheel
steamer Underwriter, prominently identified with the service of
holding possession of the North Carolina Sounds during the two
preceding years. About 2 a. m. February 2nd this vessel, while
lying at anchor in the Neuse Kiver near Newburn, was boarded in
the dark by a force of over one hundred men in boats and over-
powered after a resistance Of fifteen minutes in which her com-
mander, Acting Master Westervelt, was killed, and the crew, num-
bering only forty people all told, became prisoners of war. After
taking off the prisoners and plundering the vessel she was set on
fire and destroyed. Acting Third Assistant Engineer George E.
Allen and twenty-two of the men escaped in a peculiar manner due
to the haste of the enemy and the courage and presence of mind of
Mr. Allen. They were all driven into one boat, the last to shove
off from the Underwriter, and were soon surprised to hear the
guard in charge of it hailing the boat ahead for assistance, it appear-
ing that in their hurry to get away from the ship the Confederates
had all embarked in the first boats, leaving only two to go in the
last one, in which were over twenty prisoners. Quickly realizing

424

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

the situation, Mr. Allen snatched the cutlass from the belt of the
guard near him and thus made himself master of the boat, the other
guard jumping overboard and swiming for another boat which had
turned back. By hard pulling on the part of the men, Mr. Allen
safely conducted his captured boat to the Federal fortifications at
Newbern and at daylight reported with his party on board the Lock-
wood, lying at that place. The other officers and the remainder of
the crew became prisoners of war.

About 9 o'clock the evening of February 17th a Confederate
' ' david, ' ' as the nearly immersed cigar-shaped torpedo boats of the
enemy came to be called from the name of one of the first of them,
just as monitor became a generic term, approached the sloop-of-war

Wal

Confederate "david," or torpedo boat. From a drawing by Second Assistant
Engineer W. S. Smith for a report of Hear Admiral Dahlgren.

Housatonic, lying on the outer blockade off Charleston, and was not
discovered until so close as to explode a torpedo under the Housa-
tonic, sinking her. Ensign Hazeltine, Captain's Clerk Muzzy, and
three men were drowned, all others of the Bhip's company saving
themselves by taking to the rigging, which remained above water,
the boats of the Oanandaigua rescuing them soon afterward. The
torpedo boat itself also went to the bottom. This disaster was due
to the excellence in the use of torpedoes which had been arrived at
by the Confederates, they, in the absence of ships to carry on naval
operations, being forced to wage war with these weapons then novel
and unusual. The use of torpedoes was by no means a new thing,
but it was a practice rather abhorrent to the minds of trained fight-
ing men, and owed its development by the naval officers of the
South to necessity rather than desire.

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 425

One of the first successful uses of the torpedo in the Civil War
was the blowing up of the iron-clad gun-boat Cairo in the Missis-
sippi Eiver in 1862, by a Confederate naval officer who had been
taught less furtive methods of warfare in the old navy, and who
was so doubtful of the propriety of the mode of attack directed by
him that he described his feelings, when he saw that the Cairo was
actually going to sink, as much the same as those of a schoolboy at
seeing serious results follow from something begun in sport. The
sentiment in the navy regarding torpedoes at that time is well shown
by some comments of Rear Admiral Farragut, who, reporting to
the department in May, 1864, that he intended to make use of them
to be on an equality with his enemy, felt it necessary to excuse
himself by explaining:

' ' Torpedoes are not so agreeable when used on both sides ; there-
fore I have reluctantly brought myself to it.

" I have always deemed it unworthy of a chivalrous nation, but
it does not do to give your enemy such a decided superiority over
you. ' '

In the hands of the Confederates torpedo warfare was consider-
ably advanced and torpedoes became the most formidable weapon
against which our naval vessels had to contend, as well as the cause of
the greater part of the disasters suffered by the Federal navy during the
rebellion. The present high development of torpedoes as a weapon
for naval warfare may be directly traced to the impetus gained by its
successes during the Civil War, which not only illustrated its great
possibilities but also overcame any chivalric objections to its use
which may have been formerly entertained by naval officers.

The evening of April 18th another "david" passed through the
iron-clad blockade line off Charleston and made for the big frigate
Wabash lying in the outer line. In this case, however, it was dis-
covered in time for the Wabash to get under way and man the bat-
tery, her fire either destroying or driving off the small but much-
feared adversary. On the sixth of May the ferry gunboat Commo-
dore Jones while near Four Mile Creek in the James River ran upon
a moored torpedo and met with utter destruction, about one-half of
her crew being either killed or wounded. The next day the gunboat

426 THE STEAM NAVY OF THE TOTTED STATES.

Shawsheen while searching for torpedoes near Turkey Bend in the
same locality fell a victim to exposed machinery and was destroyed
by a battery suddenly unmasked in the woods, the first shots from
which disabled her by exploding the steam drum and breaking the
walking-beam of the engine. The officers and crew became prisoners
and the vessel was burned by her captors.

A daring expedition, although on a small scale, was conducted
in March by Acting Master Champion of the Pawnee, who, with the
tug gunboat Columbine commanded by Acting Ensign Sanborn, and
a party of volunteers from the Pawnee, proceeded up the St. Johns
River in Florida, captured two steamers, a large quantity of cotton,
provisions, and army supplies, and returned safely to the ship after
having been for two weeks in the enemy's country and penetrated
the river over two hundred miles. The volunteer party from the
Pawnee consisted of Second Assistant Engineer Alfred Adamson,
Third Assistant Engineer Arthur Price, an acting master's mate, and
twelve men, all embarked at first in a launch towed by the Columbine,
but transferred the second day to a steamer, the General Sumter, they
had captured in Great Lake George. Two days later the Sumter en-
countered and captured the steamer Hattie in Deep Creek and con-
verted her into a transport for carrying cotton, machinery, and other
contraband of war seized at the river stations visited. When taken,
the Hattie was found disabled by the Confederates, who in abandon-
ing her had carried off all the valves of the feed and other pumps
about the engines and boilers, but the ingenuity of Messrs. Adamson
and Price overcame this defect and soon restored the steamer to a
useful condition. Without any means of doing better, they hastily
made valves of wood which were found to answer the purpose and
enabled the vessel to do service until time permitted more permanent
repairs.

Two months' later in the same river the Columbine met the fate
that had overtaken so many of the purchased steamers with exposed
machinery and fell into the hands of the enemy. She was attacked
by a battery hidden in the underbrush along the bank and almost at
the first fire rendered helpless by a shot cutting the main steam pipe,
her surrender following as the natural result of her inability to move
into a position to use her guns or get out of the range of fire. Her
people were taken prisoners and the enemy burned their prize with-

THE STEAM NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 427

out taking time to remove anything of value. The senior engineer
of the Columbine was referred to in the following complimentary
manner in the commanding officer's report of the disaster: " I take
great pleasure in recommending to your favorable notice the conduct
of Acting Third Assistant Engineer Henry J. Johnson, who coolly
performed his duty until the engine became disabled, when he ren-
dered me the most valuable assistance on deck. ' ' Mr. Johnson and
his assistant, Mr. George Whitney, acting third assistant engineer,
had a most miserable time for several months after capture, being
moved about to various prison pens, jails and workhouses, and
forced to mix with felons imprisoned for all sorts of crimes.

A frightful disaster occurred on board the new double-ender
Chenango when she first sailed from the city where she was built.
This vessel, on the 15th of April, left New York, under the com-
mand of Lieutenant Commander T. S. Fillebrown, bound for Hamp-
ton Roads; while passing between Forts Hamilton and Lafayette her
port boiler suddenly exploded blowing up the deck, killing twenty-
five of the crew and wounding ten others, all four of her engineers
being among the killed. A court of inquiry held at the Brooklyn
navy yard found that the disaster was caused by a defective vein in
the iron in the boiler, and that no blame or want of vigilance could
be ascribed to any officer of the vessel. The chief engineer, Mr.
Joseph N. Cahill, first assistant engineer, U. S. Navy, was particu-
larly exonerated, he being known as one of the most careful and
cautious officers in the service. The Shenango belonged to the Sas-
samis class of double-enders and was built by J. Simonson, Green-
point, Long Island, the engines and boilers being supplied by the
Morgan Iron Works, New York. The boilers were of the Martin
vertical water-tube type and may have been defective in bracing as
well as material, as another of them had exploded with fatal results
on the Lenapee of the same class when steam was raised in it at the
contractor's works.

Besides the naval court of inquiry as to the accident, it was also
investigated by a coroner's jury which found the cause to be defective
material and fixed the blame upon the person or persons responsible
for the construction of the boilers. The responsibility narrowed
down to Second Assistant Engineer S. Wilkins Cragg, who as an
assistant to a general engineer superintendent had been stationed at

428 THE STEAM NAVY OV THE UNITED STATES.

the Morgan Works in special charge of the Chenango's machinery,
and he was dismissed the service by the Secretary of the Nary, who
cited the finding of the coroner's jury as the reason for his action.
Owing to the haste with which vessels were built in those days and
the constant pressure always bearing upon the contractors to hurry
their work along, Mr. Cragg proved that he was unable to control
the nature of the work under his inspection and that his dismissal
was unjust. About two years later he was restored to the navy, and
a few years afterward resigned. In after years he was a prominent
figure in Paris in connection with the street improvements of that
city.

On the morning of June 2nd the TJ. S. Steamer Victoria chased
ashore, captured and set on fire a large British steamer named
Georgianna McCaw trying to run the blockade